The mature plants can attain six to 12 feet in height, so they can also shade cool-weather vegetables like lettuce or broccoli to extend the harvest into early summer.Īnd after an initially slow ramp-up, they’ll grow quite tall quite quickly and can serve as a windbreak in the landscape or as a trellis for tomatoes, all while producing literal bushels of edible seeds. The seeds produced are also colorful, ranging from buff to pink or green. Pigeon peas are pretty, too, sporting yellow or multicolored blooms ahead of their mottled or green pods. They also work well as cover crops, and some permaculturists plant them as windbreaks or to break up compacted soil with their impressive taproots. You can shell them to eat green or wait until the pods dry and stock the pantry for bean cookery all year long. Us gardeners relish them because they grow with very little fuss, and produce massive yields of nutty seeds that are tasty in a wide array of dishes. They also fix nitrogen into the soil for other crops, serve as fodder for livestock, produce branches you can prune as a source of mulch, and attract beneficial insects including bees and other pollinators.īut you don’t have to be particularly environmentally conscious or trying to grow food in less than ideal conditions to appreciate pigeon peas. They’ll grow in compacted clay soil, loam, or sand. These protein-rich legumes with a nutty flavor produce huge yields even in the face of drought, depleted soil, and extra-warm temperatures.
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