2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[heirloomgal]

Remember I’m a Southerner, so when I hear the word pea, my mind goes straight to cowpeas.

@HmooseK I may not live in the South, but I LOVE black eyed peas! Dinner tonight...

I just wish I could grow them though!!

 

[HmooseK]

@HmooseK I may not live in the South, but I LOVE black eyed peas! Dinner tonight...View attachment 40264
I just wish I could grow them though!!

Sure looks tasty!

 

[Zeedman]

@HmooseK I may not live in the South, but I LOVE black eyed peas! Dinner tonight...View attachment 40264
I just wish I could grow them though!!

(added emphasis mine) You probably can grow some cowpeas. There are two short DTM, true-bush varieties that were bred to be grown in Minnesota; MN 150 (which I grew last year) and MN 13 (which I am growing this year). If you are able to grow beans for seed & have at least 60 warm days, chances are that either of them would produce dry seed in your climate. If you can grow limas to seed, even more varieties might be possible. Unlike all Phaseolus beans, cowpeas go from pod to dry very quickly. Despite their reputation for being a warm-climate crop, cowpeas are consistently my first dry bean seed.

 

[flowerbug]

...
I have several reservations about this system. Attaching, tensioning, and anchoring the wire seems to be something a gardener would not want to do every year - something more suited to a permanent trellis. Conduit or rebar could be used instead & would make construction easier... but my main problem is the continuous W string. Strings break. If I lose a vertical string or two (which is not uncommon in a strong storm) no big deal... the surrounding strings in the lattice will still provide support. However, in a W construction, if the string breaks anywhere the entire trellis could fail.

perhaps they are doing some tying off part-ways along the trellis? the few times i have used string here i've had some breaks too and i've always tied off runs part ways along to make sure i wouldn't lose the whole thing if it broke.

still, i just haven't had great luck with most beans here on the fences. almost all of them so far have turned out to be too long season for me unless i were growing them only for snaps (and a few did ok as shellies).

 

[heirloomgal]

(added emphasis mine) You probably can grow some cowpeas. There are two short DTM, true-bush varieties that were bred to be grown in Minnesota; MN 150 (which I grew last year) and MN 13 (which I am growing this year). If you are able to grow beans for seed & have at least 60 warm days, chances are that either of them would produce dry seed in your climate. If you can grow limas to seed, even more varieties might be possible. Unlike all Phaseolus beans, cowpeas go from pod to dry very quickly. Despite their reputation for being a warm-climate crop, cowpeas are consistently my first dry bean seed

I tried growing 'Jackson Wonder' lima beans last year, and had no luck. I don't know if that is because it was so unusually hot, or that we had such an unusually short summer. My days for growing are about 125; cowpeas are not a seed type found here, but there are plenty in the grocery stores. I wonder if I plant some of those if I could get them to grow. I've always wondered about that since I love black eyed peas so much.

 

[Zeedman]

I tried growing 'Jackson Wonder' lima beans last year, and had no luck. I don't know if that is because it was so unusually hot, or that we had such an unusually short summer. My days for growing are about 125; cowpeas are not a seed type found here, but there are plenty in the grocery stores. I wonder if I plant some of those if I could get them to grow. I've always wondered about that since I love black eyed peas so much.

Black eyed peas might be a stretch; although there are several varieties, those in the store are most likely Caifornia Black Eyed - which has a Northern DTM of about 90 days, plus or minus. There is an heirloom black eyed pea, Fagiolino Dolico Veneto, which has smaller seeds, and a DTM of 65-75 days... it is quite popular with Northern seed savers, which is a testament to its yield & reliability. MN 150 & MN 13 also fall in that range. You could push the envelope by starting the seeds indoors; I do that for some of my cowpeas, and all of my limas.

 

[heirloomgal]

Black eyed peas might be a stretch; although there are several varieties, those in the store are most likely Caifornia Black Eyed - which has a Northern DTM of about 90 days, plus or minus. There is an heirloom black eyed pea, Fagiolino Dolico Veneto, which has smaller seeds, and a DTM of 65-75 days... it is quite popular with Northern seed savers, which is a testament to its yield & reliability. MN 150 & MN 13 also fall in that range. You could push the envelope by starting the seeds indoors; I do that for some of my cowpeas, and all of my limas.

I just discovered the funniest thing, at least in terms of seeds representing a countries palate; after reading your post I checked the seeds of diversity site here, which is supposed to give a list of all the country's seeds on offer by various companies/vendors. I was curious if the variety you mentioned might be on the list given the 'northern' magic word. There is a total of ONE, across the whole country, available called 'Flageolot'! Maybe there is some growing challenges due to climate afterall. Given the giant bag of black eye peas I can get for just a couple dollars, I guess I can't really squawk!

 

[Zeedman]

I just discovered the funniest thing, at least in terms of seeds representing a countries palate; after reading your post I checked the seeds of diversity site here, which is supposed to give a list of all the country's seeds on offer by various companies/vendors. I was curious if the variety you mentioned might be on the list given the 'northern' magic word. There is a total of ONE, across the whole country, available called 'Flageolot'! Maybe there is some growing challenges due to climate afterall. Given the giant bag of black eye peas I can get for just a couple dollars, I guess I can't really squawk!

Hopefully the "Flageolot" isn't just a misspelling of "Flageolet" bean.

I'm really not surprised that there are so few cowpeas listed in SoDC; they are not commonly grown here in Wisconsin either. It could be a result of climate, or of culture. And yes, black eyed peas are cheap & easily found... but admit it, as a bean fan, you must want to at least try growing your own. You could end up being the sole source in all of Canada. I'd be happy to send you seed for MN 150 & MN 13.

 

[heirloomgal]

And yes, black eyed peas are cheap & easily found... but admit it, as a bean fan, you must want to at least try growing your own. You could end up being the sole source in all of Canada. I'd be happy to send you seed for MN 150 & MN 13.

Hahahaha...laser vision straight into the mind of a bean lover! If I was the sole source in CAN for cowpeas, wow, that'd be some serious bean swagger for sure. I'll PM you @Zeedman and maybe we can make a trade...

 

[heirloomgal]

Wow @Zeedman, you know your stuff. I did spell it wrong, it's Flageolet not Flageolot. I only know of a small green, minty coloured bean with that name. I didn't really dig because the vendor's catalog doesn't seem to have an english version.