How to Grow Cowpeas (Chinese Beans)

Gardeners often try to conserve land by choosing climbing varieties of plants for their vegetable gardens. With a small plot, there's no other option! That's why it's common to plant climbing beans along fences and grow cucumbers in barrels: this way, gardeners use every bit of land "for business." Furthermore, oriental plants with enormous fruits—such as cowpea, Chinese cucumber, and Titan pumpkin—have become popular among gardeners. We'll explain how to grow cowpea (Chinese bean) in your garden. This climbing legume grows up to 2 meters tall and produces very long, asparagus-like pods, 40 to 50 cm long.

If legumes grow well in your garden, try growing cowpeas: the plant grows very quickly, and the fruit can be used like regular green beans (for making soups, omelets, and stewed vegetable dishes). Like all legumes, the plant easily tolerates irregular watering and even drought. A must-have for gardeners who can't spend the week at their dacha!

What kind of soil is needed to grow Chinese cowpea?

This plant thrives in light soils that are not overly acidic or too clay-rich. Black soil or sandy loam is ideal. In other words, legumes and cowpeas thrive in drier soils than in overly wet ones.
Special fertilization to improve the soil's nutritional value is not necessary for Chinese beans: this plant can bear fruit practically in sand. Furthermore, the cowpea tops themselves are an excellent green manure: after fruiting, they can be dug into the garden bed, creating improved soil the following year for planting nightshade and brassica crops.

Preparing cowpeas for planting

Cowpeas are small and black. Like any other legume, they require overnight soaking to increase their chances of germination. Without soaking, cowpeas can be planted only in moist soil in mid-May. Generally, this plant can be planted until the end of June. However, be sure to moisten the seedbed beforehand.

How to Grow Cowpeas (Chinese Beans)

1. Dig the bed if you didn't do so in the fall. Level the soil with a rake, then use a hoe or other suitable tool to make a furrow in the bed up to 4 cm deep. If the soil is moist, no additional watering is necessary. If the soil is dry, water the furrow with a watering can and wait until the liquid is absorbed. Then, space the cowpeas 7-10 cm apart in the furrow. Cover them with a layer of moist soil, then sprinkle dry soil on top to help the soil retain moisture and allow the beans to germinate.

2. Under favorable conditions, cowpeas germinate very quickly—within a week. Two weeks after planting, you'll see Chinese bean plants with leaves.

3. This legume doesn't require much watering, so it can be watered with a watering can every few days. The plant will survive well without water for 10 days or even longer, although regular watering (every 2-3 days) is still necessary during flowering and pod formation. Cowpeas are a climbing plant, so as they develop, they will begin to produce "legs" that need to be secured to a support. Cowpeas can be grown near a chain-link fence or installed with garden netting on supports, but the simplest solution is to plant stakes (long poles or special garden stakes with a rough surface) near the Chinese bean plants.

4. You can also let the cowpea climb trees. To do this, dig a stake into the ground so that its top edge is under a tree branch. Once the cowpea reaches the top of the stake, it will cling to the tree itself.

5. When the plants reach their peak growth, they will begin to bloom. Cowpea flowers resemble bean flowers—they are light-colored and bicuspid.

6. After the flowers dry up and fall off, thin pods will appear in their place.

7. Chinese bean pods develop very quickly: in just a week, you'll have fully grown pods measuring 40 cm in length! However, keep a close eye on the pods: ants love to "graze" aphids at their base. If this doesn't harm the pods, you don't need to do anything, but if the insects are causing the pods to fall off without growing, sprinkle the pods with crushed ash.
By the way, find out, How to get rid of ants in your garden.

Sometimes cowpea pods grow so quickly that the flowers don't have time to fall from their tips. So, don't miss the harvest: these green beans are only edible when the pods themselves are still soft. If the cowpeas are already overgrown, you can leave the pods until they dry completely to obtain planting material for next year.

Growing cowpeas is very simple and, most importantly, enjoyable, as Chinese beans produce a generous harvest.

Wishing you pleasant gardening chores and interesting plants in your yard!