Cowpeas and top crop beans - help!

Wow. Somebody at work just gave me two ziploc baggies full of seeds for cowpea and something called top crop bean. He said they don't keep well, so I should plant 'em right away.

Does anyone have experience with these? They are totally new to me. What kind of space do I need? How will I use the peas/beans in cooking? Will they make it in zone 5a so that I'll get seeds for next year?

Thanks for any help/suggestions/advice!
Claire

CMox...... I don't know about growing cowpeas but I have grown Topcrop Bush Beans in the past. An early & flavorful, tender variety. Plant as you would any bush bean--sowing moderately close & then thinning later to 4" or 6" apart.
We pick'em young & tender..as "snaps"...pinching off the tip & tail. Steamed or boiled with ham.. anyway you wish. They say it's a 51 day variety...maybe longer in your locale, but fairly early as beans go. Should make before frost. For saving seeds, of course, let them fully mature on the vine before harvesting. Why not giv'em a try??
Good luck!
LarryD

Thanks Larry! Very helpful. I have not grown any beans before. I grow tomatoes, squash and melons, and peppers. This year I'm trying cukes and lima beans for the first time. So, I didn't know there were bush beans. Does that mean they won't climb a trellis? My lima beans are climbers!

Cowpeas are a w ide range of sizes, colors and shape, But in general planted in much the same pattern as bush beans. Of course there are a few that are runners, these need more space or a fence to climb on. They have longer season than a bush snap bean running some 60- 70 days. All types are used as both green shell and dried peas. Many of the cultivars can be used as snaps ( taste like a yardlong). One of the souths favorite dishes, Green shell peas with snaps.

Okay, this is all very useful information. I am feeling better about my new seeds. The cowpeas don't have a cultivar name on them. They are small sort of chestnut brown pea-like seeds. No colour variation to them or speckles or anything.

I make a lot of split pea soup in the winter. Can I use cowpeas for that?

No, it is totally different flavor. All cowpeas have a flavor similar to the most popular member of the family, the Blackeye pea. The brown peas have slightly stronegr flavor, the white peas the mildest. Boiled with smoked hog jowel or hamhocks is the most popular dish for dried peas. Green shell, basicly boiled with butter like baby limas (butterbeans).

http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/FCS/FlaFoodFare/SouthPea.htm
http://www.southernangel.com/food/midsumm.html
http://southernfood.about.com/od/blackeyedpeas/
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/16065.html
http://www.foodieview.com/food/recipes/southern.jsp?start=40

Wonderful! I am certainly learning a lot today! I will peruse these recipes while my cowpeas germinate and shall no doubt be able to rustle up some yummy things by the end of the season! Thank you so much for all the links. I'd never heard of "Hopping John" before. I suppose I should visit the South for these things to see what they are supposed to taste like. As a transplanted Canadian, I tend towards a split pea soup which is supposed to be a Quebec specialty. Now I can expand my geographical foodie-ness.

Blackeyed peas ... Hoppin' John....... now you're makin' me hongrey!!!!!!! Love it!!! I always like chopped raw onion in mine. Give it a try sometime.....

LarryD

Don't forget a bit of Cayenne either!

Love them peas! When we who are south of the Ohio River speak of 'peas', cowpeas are what we are referring to..we call anything else English Peas..if it's generic, then it's cowpeas.

A bit of history on the lowley cowpea....

It is North African in origin and came to the New World along with the slave trade...widely grown in the West Indies islands and used as fodder for stock among the landed gentry of the Atlantic coast...they simply called them 'stock peas' and didn't use them as table fare...(These were the same geniuses who were also suspicious of the tomato and didn't eat them either)...while all across the south, farmers and their stock alike ate them with gusto...and they were instrumental in the survival of many small families and farms through lean times. They were easy to grow, prolific and pests didn't bother them much...plus nutritious.
Confederate soldiers carried the cowpea in their food pouches, and many times, that was all they had to eat.
They have sustained the South for generations and are as important to our culture as catfish, cornbread, and moonshine whiskey.

There are many colorful varieties available...although most are not sold commercially,there's a very strong seed saving ethic when it comes to cowpeas...many families have saved the same seeds for generations.

I found 1 such family who actually had documentation of their cowpea back to 1863...and we suspected they had it even earlier, but it couldn't be proved.

You are growing a bit of history...ain't it grand????

Ten-four on that, Mel.

One of my cowpeas comes from a local woman who heard I collect "old seeds" (heirlooms). Her parents, who were wed in the early 1900's were given a "cowpea" seed stock for their wedding present. She tells me her parents grew them out and the first harvest year they each had "nearly one-half cup of peas to eat, the rest went into the seed larder for next year".

Can you imagine? A young couple (by the way her parents were only 14 and 16 yrs old when married), first starting out and some of their gifts were seed stock to get them on their way. (This is the family that also bequeathed to me a gift of white okra.)

Cowpeas. Ya gotta love 'em! Cook 'em up with some side meat, sliced onion...serve with butter and some good bread for dipping the broth. It don't get no better!

Shoe.