The Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is definately something that you should taste fresh. We have all eaten them from dried or salted from a can but a fresh chickpea has a great taste that has a hint of butter. This variety can be eaten both fresh or dried to be stored and eaten later.
Growing Chickpeas
Once planted the chickpea is quite slow to germinate, the plant here is around 8 weeks old and was planted in late February, but once transplanted they start to play a bit of 'catch-up' with the other vegetables in your plot. We start our plants under cover and transplant at about this size but if you have a good sheltered position and the ground is warm then they can be sown directly into your plot. As you can see they grow into a small bush that stays quite low to the ground.
chickpea bush
Sow the seeds during February to April and October to November for harvest June to August. Each plant should be around 20cm apart and each row around 60cm apart. Allow the pods to form and harvest once you can feel the small, swollen peas inside. Once picked and shelled you can cook like any standard pea. The photo on the left is showing the same plant as that above only now in early July. You can now see small flowers and the hanging pods which are almost ready to harvest.
Each packet contains enough seed for approximately 80 plants.
