Purple hulls

[Danny]

I used to love home canning up crowders/field peas, so nice later in the year to enjoy them. Shelling is sort of a zen thing.

[Tormahto]

...when one has easy shelling pods.

I have this one variety of a dry common bean where the pod constricts around the beans so tight, there is basically no air space. It is not a tranquil experience in shelling.

[Cole_Robbie]

...when one has easy shelling pods.

I have this one variety of a dry common bean where the pod constricts around the beans so tight, there is basically no air space. It is not a tranquil experience in shelling.

Shelling is the difficult part, indeed.

[Danny]

Mmmm, if the shelling was that awful on a bean, I would give it a try of really letting them get very dry and smacking the beans out of the pods in a pillow case sort of thing. Release those aggressions time, LOL!!

Otherwise, for me, sort of a repetitive no thinking about it thing while my mind idles or we are chatting and popping out peas or beans.

[karstopography]

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I planted purple hull pink eye peas where I had been growing the onions and garlic. That all came out in April and May so I was if going by most local planting calendars way late on these peas, but whatever, they are as much as a cover crop as anything else so If I get a few peas to eat I’ll be happy. They are beginning to flower so that’s promising.

[GoDawgs]

@karstopography, the purple hulls should be just fine. They can take the heat. I always plant my Red Rippers right behind the corn and that's usually around the end of June-early July.

I do have a row of Mississippi Silver from last year's MMMM growing as well as a row of Green Dixie Blackeye that I bought just to try. Supposedly they're a good canner and the peas inside stay green even when dry. We'll see.

[karstopography]

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The pink eye purple hull peas are the three rows to the left. The two on the far left are from 2024 harvest from garden. Those came up way better than the seed packet purchased for the 2024 planting.

[karstopography]

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Pink Eyed Purple Hull peas starting to bloom.

[GoDawgs]

Your Pink Eyes are ahead of my Mississippi Silvers. Mine are up about 6-8".

Question: Do the leaves of your field peas go through a stage early on where the leaves pucker? Mine always have, no matter which variety I grow (no insect presence) but they always grow out of it and do just fine.

Yesterday I noticed that the leaves of the young Red Noodle Asian long beans are doing that too. Maybe they're more related to field peas than beans!

[karstopography]

Your Pink Eyes are ahead of my Mississippi Silvers. Mine are up about 6-8".

Question: Do the leaves of your field peas go through a stage early on where the leaves pucker? Mine always have, no matter which variety I grow (no insect presence) but they always grow out of it and do just fine.

Yesterday I noticed that the leaves of the young Red Noodle Asian long beans are doing that too. Maybe they're more related to field peas than beans!

I don’t remember them puckering or didn’t notice any puckering. The leaves have been munched on a little, but I’ve withheld any impulse to do anything about it. Same for the okra next to the peas. Something eating the leaves, but this seems to be the deal every year and the vegetables eventually outgrow their munchers.

[GoDawgs]

This is a pic of some of the puckered MS Silver pea leaves. They'll be like this for a few weeks and then grow out of it. Some leaves are more puckered than others. It happens every year.

25.05.26 MS Silvers with the pucker leaves.JPG

[Danny]

Haven't noticed puckering on my field peas in the past, but since they grow out of it with no bad effects, I wouldn't worry.

Crowder types make an good gravy, but we like pretty much all field peas. And, yes, they do take the mean heat of summer and just go on with producing more peas. Zipper creams are easy to shell, hence the name, but if you grow a lot for yourself a sheller can be worthwhile. Can't recall all the details, but there was a man with a hand cranked sheller ( lots of kid power to work it) that shelled a bunch at once. Would like to find one of those now !!

[Vanman]

If you cut down Purple Hulls after the first picking you will get a second crop, just smaller. One year we got tired of picking and shelling peas so I cut them down. A few weeks later they were back with a second crop.

[karstopography]

If you cut down Purple Hulls after the first picking you will get a second crop, just smaller. One year we got tired of picking and shelling peas so I cut them down. A few weeks later they were back with a second crop.

Cut them down how exactly? All the way to the ground?

[Vanman]

I used a bush hog on my tractor.

[GoDawgs]

One year the deer "pruned" them for me, hitting them hard. On a whim I went in there with pruners and cut off the bitten stalks down to the first set of leaves about 6" from the bottom of the plant. They grew back really fast and made!

[GoDawgs]

Found a photo from Aug 1, 2020 when the deer munched down the field peas. July was a very droughty and hot time with surrounding fields browning up. and they not only munched the peas but also the peppers, sweet potato vines and okra. This is a photo of a munched pea plant with new growth emerging below where it was bitten off. Tough plants!

20.08.01 New field pea growth emerging after munch.jpeg

After that incident I decided to put up a netting enclosure around the pea rows.

20.08.01 Field Pea fortress.jpeg

[karstopography]

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Picked these purple hulls this morning ahead of the expected rain. First picking of 2025. Love the way they smell. Sort of tobacco like. I like to eat them before they dry out.

[worth1]

They're delicious before they dry out.

[GoDawgs]

I love to put 'em in a pot with some chopped onion, frozen okra from last year's garden, a pint of home canned tomatoes or can of RoTel, dash of hot sauce and let it simmer a while. Good stuff!