{"product_id":"pigeon-pea","title":"Pigeon Pea","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePigeon pea is a wonderfully multipurpose plant: it produces edible peas, makes a great hedge or windbreak, provides a trellis for other vegetables, fixes nitrogen, offers light shade for plants growing beneath it, and makes excellent animal feed. The peas can be eaten like lentils or cooked beans. The fresh pods are tough and need to be cooked or shelled. Shelling takes some work and is slower than with familiar shelly peas like English garden peas or cowpeas.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA perennial shrub that can reach 7 feet tall, pigeon pea tends to die back after freezing temperatures, so it should be treated as an annual unless growing in a frost-free climate. It is also day-length sensitive and won’t flower until fall, giving us a relatively short harvest window before cold weather arrives. In our climate, it’s not always the most productive food crop unless a late first frost gives us a longer season.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe’ve had plants survive for two years when successive winters were warm, and those plants produced loads of peas all winter! Those growing in frost-free areas will have better pea harvests. The rest of us can grow pigeon pea for many of the other reasons it’s wonderful. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe’ve grown two types, one with yellow flowers and one with pink. The pink-flowered plants produced beautiful striped pods and flowered a little later and less heavily, but eventually caught up with the yellows. With so many pollinators in our garden, the bees may have crossed the two, so our seed may be a hybrid between them. Our other available variety comes from Eckerd College in St. Pete, Florida, and has brown seeds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few winters in a row when we've not had freezing temperatures, we've had some live for 2 years. Those conditions provided loads of peas all winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had two different types one with yellow flowers and one with pink, the pink ones has stripey pods that were so lovely, and bore pods a bit less and a bit later but eventually caught up to the yellows. We have so many pollinators in our garden, that the bees may have crossed them, so our peas may be a hybrid between the two. The other variety we have available comes from Eckerd College in St. Pete, FL and they have brown seeds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor a great write-up on this plant, check out David the Good’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Survival Gardener\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\" \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thesurvivalgardener.com\/pigeon-peas-survival-plant-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003earticle about pigeon peas\u003c\/a\u003e.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Working Food Seed \u0026 Merch Shop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304250265789,"sku":null,"price":4.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/1734\/5725\/files\/Pigeon_Pea_5.jpg?v=1776460615","url":"https:\/\/workingfoodseeds.org\/products\/pigeon-pea","provider":"Working Food ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}