Harvesting Cowpeas in Late Summer

Summer is hard on a garden (and those individuals tending said garden!)  The temperatures are hot and sap your strength.  Plants wilt in the heat.  The humidity is high, making it an unpleasant chore to do any gardening.  Things dwindle down at this time, except for two main items - okra and cow peas.  Today we'll talk about cowpeas.  These things are a southern staple.  Cow peas are thought to have originated in West Africa.  They are well-adapted to the heat and to drought, so they do well during the summer.

I generally plant a row or two in the garden and a 48 foot row of them in the bed in the side yard.  Cow peas don't need a lot of fertilizer as they are a legume that has nodules that set its own nitrogen.  They'll start blooming all at once and once you start harvesting, they'll continue setting pods for quite a while.  In the photo below, you can see blooms in the center and center left along with full, mature pods and a young pod that you can't see the peas forming in it yet.

Varying stages of cow pea growth

The cow peas I grow mainly appear to be bush-type, however, if there is anything for them to trellis on, they will send out vines and climb.  In the photo below, some black-eyed peas have climbed up to the top of my okra plants - easily 8 feet tall!

Climbing the okra stalks and setting pods

Each afternoon I grab a bucket and go out and pick ripened cow peas.  Cow peas are said to be a "poor man's meal" due to its high protein.  We like cooking them with some smoked meat and serving over rice with some home made cornbread on the side.  We like to sit around the island in the kitchen and shell peas.  We'll eat some and then as soon as we have a quart, we'll freeze some for later.  It is an easy meal that makes everyone happy.

I usually plant three different types of cowpeas.  The seeds are easy to save and plant the following year.  Below on the far left, you'll see the Black-eyed pea.  In the center is the Ozark Razorback Pea.  On the far right is the Purple-Hull pea.  We don't really have a preference.  We usually mix them up and cook them all together. 

As long as the peas keep producing, we'll keep pickin' and shellin'...

Purple Hull Peas (with a few black-eyed peas at the bottom)

It is good to have items like this in your garden - items that continue to thrive even when the growing environment seems so brutal.