Improved Purple Hull Peas (cowpeas)

Gardening always tends to remind me of the people who have given me seeds and starts to my plants, and it always brings back good memories. For example, Mrs. Jan Miller, my best friend's mom, gave me the seed for these improved purple hull peas five years ago when I went up there to help their family on their small dairy during a crisis time. It was a fun week, spent milking cows, hanging out with my best girlfriend's parents, feeding calves, tilling the garden, and even getting to AI (artificially inseminate) a cow. I don't think it was a successful breeding, but hey, it was good practice. (If we ever do our own cow-calf operation, which is in the long term plans, I'll be in charge of all AI on our cows, since I did it quite a bit during grad school.)

But back to the peas...
Last year I planted the purple hull peas from my grandparents- California Pinkeye Purplehulls. But this year I gave the improved a try again, and I'm glad I did. They seem to be much longer, which means more peas per pod. Most of them are longer than this ice cream bucket that I use to pick them. The peas themselves are very fat, too. I can understand why they're called "improved." One thing that's a little different about them- when they're deep purple, they're too dry. They need to be picked a little greener than the California variety.

I am now getting at least 1.5-3 bucketfuls of peas each day on a 30 foot row. I planted them around late March.