How to grow Southern Peas

Where to plant

Grow Southern peas in full sun in fine sandy loam or light sandy clay with a pH of about 6 to 7.5. They need warm soil, at least 60°F to 65°F, for good germination; many pests and diseases attack peas sown into cool soil. They do best with hot days and warm nights.

Avoid very rich soil. High fertility, especially leftover nitrogen from a previous crop, gives lush vines with few peas.

• Florida, the Gulf South and Texas: sow from about April to June, and Central and South Florida also in late summer.
• South Carolina and similar Southeast areas: Clemson gives April to mid-July for the Piedmont, and April to mid-June plus a mid-July to August fall planting on the coast.
• Desert Southwest: sow in March and April, and again in August.
• California: sow from spring into early summer.
• Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic and Southern Plains: sow from May to July.
• Northeast, Midwest, Northern Plains and Mountain West: sow in late May or June once the soil is warm; choose quick bush varieties.
• Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades: summers are usually too cool. Hawaii: sow year round. Alaska: only under cover.

Choosing a variety

• Black-eyed types, such as California Blackeye No. 5, are the familiar black-eyed pea.
• Crowder peas have starchy seeds crowded into the pods that cook up dark.
• Cream peas, such as Zipper Cream, are smaller plants with light seeds that cook up pale and mild.
• Field peas are robust, viny types with smaller seeds. Purple hull types, such as Pinkeye Purple Hull, are productive and easy to shell, as the purple pods show when they are ready.

How to plant

1. Test the soil if you can. Without a test, Clemson suggests only a light fertilizer application, low in nitrogen, worked in a week or so before planting.
2. In a bed that has not grown cowpeas before, coat the seed with a cowpea inoculant to help the roots fix nitrogen.
3. Sow 4 to 6 seeds per foot, 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches deep, in rows 20 to 42 inches apart. Sow only 1 or 2 seeds per foot for old vining varieties.
4. Keep weeds down while plants are small; the canopy soon shades them out. Avoid cultivating once plants begin to bloom.

Watering and feeding

Watering is not normally needed once plants are established; Southern peas are very drought tolerant. In a long dry spell during flowering and pod fill, a deep soaking helps.

Do not feed with nitrogen. Cowpeas make their own in root nodules, and extra nitrogen gives vines instead of peas.

Harvesting

For fresh peas, harvest as soon as the pods shell easily, when the seeds have swelled in the pod but before many pods lighten in color and dry. On purple hull types, the pods turn purple at this stage. The youngest, most tender pods can be broken into the pot as snaps.

Fresh pods are very perishable. Move them into the shade straight away, spread them out, and shell and cook or freeze them quickly. For dried peas, leave the pods on the plants until they are dry and papery, then shell and store the dry seed.

Using it

Simmer fresh or dried peas with onion and smoked meat, serve them with rice as Hoppin' John, or make black-eyed pea salads and fritters. Fresh peas cook much faster than dried.