Cowpeas, Garden to Pot - 4 Photos

[jerryinfla]

It's summertime in central Florida -- heat, high humidity, foliar diseases and more pests will be with us for the next several weeks. Tomatoes are headed downhill and most of what I harvest in the next several days will be made into sauce -- we're working on our second batch today. Not much will survive in the garden yet alone produce other than my favorite cover crop -- cowpeas. I highly recommend them to those of you who live in similar environments and have not tried them. They're excellent soil builders and produce peas in poor soil, heat and humidity. Their name might lead one to believe that they're not good to eat; however, we love them and we'll be eating them fresh for the next several weeks and also freezing several bags to eat during the coming months. Here are some photos of Mississippi Purple Cowpeas in a 4' X 8' bed plus one day's harvest both in the shell and ready for the pot.

[shelleybean]

I always grow White Acre peas and I love them. I can't find them at the farm stand, frozen or canned so these are a special treat for me. I planted mine a couple of weeks ago when I pulled out the last of my English peas. Mine are only about two inches tall right now but you're right, they like the heat and humidity, so starting them now is no problem. I shell and blanch them and put them in a salad with tomatoes, goat's cheese, a chiffonade of basil and some sherry vinaigrette. Really looking forward to these! I'm not crazy about the name cowpeas either. I usually call them field peas or southern peas. Just sounds nicer.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by jerryinfla

It's summertime in central Florida -- heat, high humidity, foliar diseases and more pests will be with us for the next several weeks. Tomatoes are headed downhill and most of what I harvest in the next several days will be made into sauce -- we're working on our second batch today. Not much will survive in the garden yet alone produce other than my favorite cover crop -- cowpeas. I highly recommend them to those of you who live in similar environments and have not tried them. They're excellent soil builders and produce peas in poor soil, heat and humidity. Their name might lead one to believe that they're not good to eat; however, we love them and we'll be eating them fresh for the next several weeks and also freezing several bags to eat during the coming months. Here are some photos of Mississippi Purple Cowpeas in a 4' X 8' bed plus one day's harvest both in the shell and ready for the pot.

Jerry, as usual your photography is gorgeous. It's only 7:43 AM and you re making me hungry.
Your garden is beautiful, I saw the pictures from the other thread.
You are a talented gardener in a challenging environment.
Marsha

[Lee]

Great looking harvest there!

NC is also home to an optimal cowpea growing environment! I'm still debating on whether to put some out this year or not.... The seeds I
have are called purple hull cowpeas, but they look pretty much identical to what you show.

I have a couple of questions about your experience growing these.
1. Have you tried leaving them on the plants until the pods are fully purple? For me, the ones at that stage were easier to shell than pale green/purple stage.

2. Do yours attract any insects? The past two seasons I've grown them, they've been attacked by aphids and ants "farming" the aphids.
The plants don't seem to mind so much, but I think it does slow down productivity...

Thanks again for sharing!

Lee

[shelleybean]

Mine had the black bean aphids last year, Lee, and like you said, it slowed them down but I still got peas.

[jerryinfla]

Michele - I grow Zipper Cream and Mississippi Purple because both are resistant to root knot nematodes (RKNs) and I'm trying to get these vicious little buggers under control. Do you know if White Acre are RKN resistant? They sound delicious and I'd like to try them; however, not if they're RKN hosts.

Marsha - I've had a lot more experience taking picture than growing vegetables here in Florida but I figure if I could learn how to take pictures of guys playing baseball then someday I might learn how to grow stuff here. Your kind words are encouraging.

Lee - Yes, I've harvested both fully purple and green pods. Both can be difficult to shell -- purple if I leave them too long and green if I pick them before the peas swell up in the pods. Both can also be easy to shell if I harvest them when the peas are just right and that takes a bit of experimenting. When I'm shelling and come across a pod that's too fiddly I just toss it and go to the next one and try to learn from how it looked. And yes, they do attract some insects but no more so than tomatoes and a lot less than cucumbers and squash. I'm finding that as my soil gets more healthy I'm have less pest problems.

[shelleybean]

Jerry, I have not seen any info regarding RKN's and White Acre, unfortunately. These are very similar to Lady Peas if you're familiar with those, very small, about half the size of black eyed peas, for anyone who may be interested.

[jerryinfla]

Michelle - I can't find whether they're RKN resistant or not either. One thing I've learned is that some cowpeas are RKN host crops so I'm afraid to try them right now -- someday?