Cultivation Information:
Lentils are an annual plant that typically grow from 1 to 2½ feet in height. Long periods of cool weather can result in excessively tall plants and delay flowering.
Need to be sown early in the growing season (similar to garden or green pea weather). Sow as early in the spring as soil can be worked while still moist but warm enough to stimulate germination. Lentil plants will tolerate some frost and reportedly will re-grow if the above ground portion is damaged. Yields will be reduced if sown late in the season (after about the third week in May in the north).
Sow seeds 1 to 1½ inches deep in moist soil. Seeding depth can be increased in soils with a low water-holding capacity. Once established, lentils grow under quite dry conditions.
They are grown and harvested much like dry beans except that harvest is typically mid-July when the seeds are mature and the soil naturally dries. Because dry soil is a requirement, plant in an area of the garden where irrigation can be ceased without injuring your other crops.