Rare, Open-pollinated & Heirloom Garden Seeds

Cowpeas or Southern Peas are probably native to the continent of Africa and brought to the United States in early Colonial times.  They became a staple food in the Southeastern U.S. where they are eaten as green shelled peas or left to dry on the vine for later use.

They are more likely to succeed in areas with warm soil temperatures (at least 60F) and no danger of frost for ninety to one hundred days after planting.  They are highly tolerant of drought and a wide variety of soil conditions, including heavy clay and sandy soils. Soil pH can range from 5.5 to 7.  In areas with cooler climates, the plants will tend to be plagued with pests and disease.

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(Approximately 90 seeds per ounce)
One ounce will plant about a 10 foot row.

A very productive field pea that is good for fresh use, freezing or canning.  Peas are cream colored with light brown eyes.

The peas have a deep purple color when shelled and turn black when dried.  The green pods are easy to shell.

The eight inch pods fill well and borne on vigorous vines that reach about thirty inches.  Very productive and used for market, fresh green shelled or dried.

Blackeye Pea, California 
70 days — The plants of this variety are high yielding, vigorous and fairly easy to grow.

You can use these as green shell peas or dry like winter beans.  Resistant to wilt and nematodes.

Cream 8  (Texas Cream 8)
75 days — A bush-type pea with oblong, kidney shaped peas when dried. Nice garden pea that produces a nice crop.

Cream 40 (Texas Cream 40)
65 days — Texas Cream 40 is a distinct, early variety. The semi-bush growth is very prolific. The pods are six to eight inches long, medium sized, and slightly curved. The seeds are small, kidney-shaped, and white with an orange eye. 

CT Pinkeye Purple Hull
65 days — The plants are vigorous, bush to semi-vining in habit growing 18 to 24 inches tall.  The pods that are six to seven inches long and turn purple at the shell stage.  At the shell stage, the peas are light green with a red eye.  They turn almost white with a maroon eye when dried.  Introduced by the C. T. Smith Company in about 1987.  PVP expired in 2007.

The peas are very tasty, very small, and cream colored with a darker eye.  They are good green, frozen or dried.

Because of the small seed size, there are a lot of seeds (about 350 seeds per ounce), one packet goes a long way.

Pinkeye Purple Hull BVR 
65 days — Bush to semi-vining plants that produce pods that are six to seven inches long and purple. The seeds are cream colored with a maroon eye.

It was selected from 'Pinkeye Purple Hull' at the University of Georgia (Athens) for its resistance to Blackeye Cowpea Mosaic Virus and Bacteria Virus Resistant (BVR).  Released in 1984.

Pigeon Peas (Cajanus indicus)
140 days — Although not common in the U.S., pigeon peas are an important crop in many parts of the world.  It has been cultivated at least 3,000 years and is believed to have originated in India, spread to East Africa, and then to the Americas via the early slave trade.

Pigeon peas are a vigorous, drought-tolerant legume, productive. They have a pungent, sweet flavor and mealy texture and are used in dishes combined with beans and rice and are often seasoned with hot chilies. The slow cooking nature of these beans allows for a rich, savory broth to be created.

Culture: They are cultivated like Southern peas and soybeans. Sow seeds 3/4 to one inch deep, three to four inches apart on raised beds with forty inches between beds.  Plant late in the spring after soil temperatures have warmed.  It is a long season crop requiring approximately 140 days from seeding to the beginning of harvest.  In most parts of the United States where freezing temperatures are possible, they must be grown as an annual.