Just been looking at Seeds of Italy and noticed they're offering lentils and chickpeas. I'd be interested in growing both but I've never heard of anyone doing so here. From what I can gather via Google, they may both be ok if we get a longish and warm growing season.

The seeds aren't particularly cheap, so I'm also wondering if it would be worth trying some ordinary supermarket dried ones but of course then you don't know quite what you're growing.

Bit more info here:

Seeds of Italy - CHICKPEA PRINCIPE

Seeds of Italy - LENTILS

I'd be interested in anyone's opinions or advice.

I was wondering about lentils too... would be interesting to know if I can plant the ones in my cupboard

Do you think you can plant dried aduki beans too?

I think you can Chrissie. I've put a range of dried T*sco beans in pots to see if they germinate and I'm sure someone here grew a least one variety of bean successfully this way last year.

I sprouted several type of beans ( adzuki, mung beans, soya beans, black beans and several other beans) If they can be sprouted they should be able to be grown too. try several of them for germination if it work you should be able to grow them from there.
Try to get the sundried one, the oven dried one are usually damaged.

Momol

I grew a few green Puy lentils last year from some dried ones I had in a packet. I just soaked them overnight and left them out to sprout and then planted them.

They grew really well but were a bit of a "faff" to harvest (only 2 lentils per pod) so I just harvested them straight into my tummy whenever I went out into the garden

Thanks Momol and Scarey.

I hadn't thought about sun dried v. oven dried. Good to know the puy lentils worked for you Scarey, shall definitely try a sprouting a few.

Wow £4.99. Quantity 1. I hope that isnt one seed LoL

We grew both lentils and chickpeas from packets meant for eating, last year. Both germinated and grew well despite the awful "summer". I shan't bother again as the yield isn't particularly high for the space taken up by the plants. If I had a huge area, things may be different.

Originally Posted by vegnut

Wow £4.99. Quantity 1. I hope that isnt one seed LoL

Hahaha! Me too

Originally Posted by veggieginger

We grew both lentils and chickpeas from packets meant for eating, last year. Both germinated and grew well despite the awful "summer". I shan't bother again as the yield isn't particularly high for the space taken up by the plants. If I had a huge area, things may be different.

Very useful info! I'm not especially looking for a 'return for money' yield, more the fun of experimenting

Sorry if this is a really thick question, but do you just plant the little 'half'bits of lentil and get a plant? I might just have to give it a go if so - think I have some in the cupboard somewhere

Unless you have loads of space I wouldn't bother. I stick to growing stuff that can be eaten fresh. Lentils etc are so cheap to buy and they do grow better in other climates. We've tried soya beans and decided it's not worth it. French beans (if we have a surplus) are sometimes left on the plant to mature and dry, but the yield per square foot is not good.

Originally Posted by rustylady

Unless you have loads of space I wouldn't bother. I stick to growing stuff that can be eaten fresh. Lentils etc are so cheap to buy and they do grow better in other climates. We've tried soya beans and decided it's not worth it. French beans (if we have a surplus) are sometimes left on the plant to mature and dry, but the yield per square foot is not good.

I would do it just to see what the plant looks like to be honest. I don't use many lentils but I love to know what the plants look like that various food comes from (part of the reason I am growing veg is to show the boys what it looks like 'in the raw')

Originally Posted by rustylady

French beans (if we have a surplus) are sometimes left on the plant to mature and dry, but the yield per square foot is not good.

mmmm, not as good a yield as fresh beans, p'raps, but I got both from the one plant...once I got bored of eating fresh French beans I left the rest to mature into dry beans, and got about, oh, £1.49 worth at H& Barr@tt prices! Pretty though.
(yin yang and tiger in the pix)

Shirl, Rustylady and veggieginger are both correct. I grew lentils last year and they are not much to write home about. However.... I also agree with you that it is good to see how these things grow and learn for yourself and if you want any Puy lentil "seeds" just let me know.

The other thing I would say is that, Puy lentils (the only ones I have experience with) are wonderful if let to sprout and eaten raw

Thanks for the offer Scarey - what is the difference between a puy lentil and the little red ones I have?

I realise from reading many threads on here how little I use pulses in cooking. I don't like beans (not even fond of baked beans) and tend not to use them. I have made lentil soup once but I really don't like it (was almost raised on the darned stuff) so it is not commonplace in our house. A lot of the beans look so pretty though and I do love the flowers and the way the pods grow. I love the look of the yin yang ones - what do you use them in?

Not into the sprouted seeds at all though we all love cress and we enjoy pea sprouts! I guess we just prefer our veggies fully grown!