Cicer arietinum
Are you wondering if you can grow your own chickpeas? Delicious in hummus, curries, fritters, stews, and salads, they are easy crops if you have the right growing conditions!
The chickpea is thought to be one of the first cultivated legumes, dating back to at least 7000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent, where the dawn of agriculture took place.
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These legumes have been used as food in North Africa and the Middle East for roughly the past 5000 years, and gradually spread to parts of southern Europe, as well as southwestern Asia.
In this article we’ll explain the specific soil and water needs of this crop, as well as everything else you’ll need to know to bring your garbanzo beans to harvest.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
Chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) are an annual legume crop grown primarily for dried pulses, though they can also be eaten green.
The edible seeds grow on bushy, branching plants ranging in height from eight to 40 inches tall, depending on the variety.
Like certain types of tomatoes, chickpeas are indeterminate and will keep growing as long as conditions are favorable.
Some chickpea plants have compound leaves made up of small, oval leaflets, while others have simple leaves that are deeply lobed.
The leaves and stems are hairy, which helps them resist feeding from small pests such as aphids.
Under the soil, garbanzos have roots that can reach up to 30 inches long – which means if you’re growing them in raised beds, you’ll want to make sure the beds are deep enough.
When colonized by beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria, nodules will form on the roots.
Around 50 days after sowing, pink, white, purple, or blue flowers start to appear.
After they are pollinated, primarily through self-pollination, blooms give way to green pods, which mature to contain one to four seeds.
Depending on the variety, the seeds held inside will be creamy beige, brown, black, red, or green.
Quick Look
Common name(s): Chickpea, Bengal gram, ceci, common gram, garbanzo bean, gram pea, Indian gram
Plant type: Annual legume
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 2-10
Native to: Syria, Turkey
Bloom time / season: Spring (sow), fall (harvest)
Exposure: Full sun
Soil type: Sandy loam, well draining
Soil pH: 5.0-7.0, slightly acidic to neutral
Time to maturity: 100-130 days
Spacing: 3 to 6 inches (seeds)
Planting depth: 1-2 inch (seeds)
Mature size: 12-18 inches wide x 8-40 inches high
Water Needs: Low
Taxonomy
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Cicer
Species: Arietinum
Also known as chick pea, Bengal gram, ceci, common gram, garbanzo bean, gram pea, Indian gram, and pea bean, they are well-adapted to warm, semi-arid conditions where rainfall is between 24 and 40 inches a year.
Though there are over 40 species in the Cicer genus, C. arietinum was the only one to be domesticated.
This genus is part of the legume or Fabaceae family, which includes relatives such as green beans, pinto beans, and black-eyed peas.
These nitrogen-fixers are drought resistant thanks to their deep tap roots and have greater tolerance to saline soils than peas and lentils.
In Middle Eastern cuisine they are used in falafel and hummus. In India, chickpeas are used in curries such as chana masala, and they are also employed as a flour – known as gram flour – to make sweet treats like halwa and savory snacks like pakoras.
Garbanzo broth, like that of some other beans, can be whipped up into the incredible egg replacement known as aquafaba.
When they aren’t serving as delicious meals for humans across the globe, chickpeas can also be used as livestock feed.
And because of their nitrogen-fixing potential, they can also be employed in organic gardening rotations as cover crops.
Whatever their purpose, these legumes can be grown as annuals in USDA Hardiness Zones 2 to 10.
How to Sow
Since they need a long growing season, it’s best to sow in early spring – or even in late fall or winter if your wintertime is very mild.
Before you sow, you might want to apply an inoculant to the seeds.
All legume crops have specific bacteria partners that help them fix nitrogen, an important part of organic gardening which allows us to avoid synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.
While the best microbial partner is Mesorhizobium cicero, also known as Rhizobium cicero, inoculants containing this bacterium are currently unavailable for small scale gardeners.
You can inoculate chickpeas with a product formulated for multiple types of legumes – including black eyed peas, common beans, fava beans, peas, lima beans, pigeon peas, and yard long beans.
Exceed Garden Combination Inoculant
You can find Exceed Garden Combination Inoculant, enough to treat eight pounds of beans, at High Mowing Organic Seeds.
Whether you’re growing in rows or in raised beds, plan to space the seeds three to six inches apart. Check your seed packet for recommended spacing, as this can vary depending on the variety you choose.
If you’re growing in an arid climate you can sow them more densely, while gardeners in more humid locations would be wise to allow more room to encourage air flow.
When growing chickpeas in a square foot garden, sow as many as 16 plants per square foot for a dense planting, or as few as four to five per square foot when you want more air flow.
Sow seeds one to two inches deep, into moist soil. Expect germination within 15 days, and keep soil moist while seedlings become established.
How to Grow
Chickpeas want to grow in a full sun location. As for soil, sandy loam with excellent drainage and a slightly acidic to neutral pH of 5.0 to 7.0 is ideal.
Since they are adapted to low moisture, grow your crop with drought tolerant garden varieties such as melons, squash, and California poppies rather than thirsty veggies like corn and lettuce, so that it doesn’t end up overwatered.
If you live in a location that receives between 24 to 40 inches of rainfall per year, you may not have to irrigate chickpeas at all when the plants are established.
Those in more arid locations will need to water periodically – once a week may be often enough except during heatwaves. Water deeply and infrequently.
Adding fertilizer to the soil can actually be counterproductive with this crop, for best results, grow chickpeas in soil that has been amended with compost or manure the previous year, rather than just before sowing.
If chickpeas have a weakness as a garden crop it’s that they don’t compete well with weeds – not as young seedlings or as established plants.
So you’ll need to keep on top of your weeding chores!
Mulching is one of the strategies you can use to help keep weeds down around your crops.
Just be careful to apply only a thin layer of mulch – about an inch thick – so that you don’t inadvertently raise humidity levels too much around the plants.
Cultivars to Select
There are two main types of chickpea: Kabuli and Desi, but these types won’t necessarily be identified in the cultivar description.
Here are the basic differences:
Kabuli
Kabuli types are more commonly grown than Desi.
These types of chickpeas are large, round, and pale cream in color. They also have a thin seed coat – that layer that separates from the bean after cooking – so they don’t need to be hulled.
Kabuli varieties tend to be used for canning or hummus, and grow best in temperate climates – so if you’re in a humid area and want to grow chickpeas, choose a Kabuli type.
Garbanzo Bean Seeds
You’ll find Kabuli type chickpeas seeds for purchase in an assortment of packet sizes via True Leaf Market.
Desi
Desi chickpeas aren’t grown quite as abundantly across the world as Kabulis.
They have smaller seeds with more pronounced “beaks,” thicker seed coats, and are commonly hulled, split, and processed into flour.
These types of chickpeas grow best in semi-arid climates.
Black
This type of chickpea produces black pulses with a smoky, nutty flavor that are ready to harvest in 100 days.
Black Garbanzo Seeds
You can purchase organic black garbanzo seeds in pack sizes ranging from 25 gram packets to 25 pound sacks via True Leaf Market.
Golden Dragon
The small seeds of ‘Golden Dragon’ chickpeas have an orangish-tan hue, and are typically used split, such as in the Indian soup, chana dal. They’ll be ready to harvest in 100 days.
Managing Pests and Disease
Growing a garden is a dance with nature. Sometimes it feels effortless and fluid, other times, pests and diseases cause you to trip and fall on your face – figuratively, of course!
Here’s what to be on the lookout for:
Herbivores
Deer can be problematic. The best way to deal with them is to deny them access to your garden by way of fencing.
Insects
Chickpea plants grown in stressful conditions are more susceptible to pest attacks – and to plant pathogens transmitted by insects.
Providing your crop with the ideal conditions described in this article will lower your risk of pest damage.
Here are some pests to watch for:
Chickpea Leaf Miner
Chickpea leaf miners (Liriomyza cicerina) cause stippling or meandering white trails on the foliage of your crop.
Stippling is caused when the small adult flies puncture the leaf tissue to lay eggs – and the trails are formed when larvae feed on leaf tissue.
Young plants are more vulnerable to damage by leaf miners, so one strategy you may use is to sow seeds as early as possible, allowing plants to become established before the insects are active.
Another strategy is to choose varieties with smaller leaves since these are more resistant to leaf miners than those with large leaves.
Read more about leaf miners here.
Cutworms
Have you ever gone out to your garden to admire your young seedlings emerging from the soil, only to find leafless stems that look like they were decapitated?
Blame the cutworms – these caterpillars can cut a young chickpea plant’s life short – quite literally.
Cutworms are larval moths that tend to spend their days under the soil, and come out in the evening or at night, when they look for tender young seedlings to feast on.
Luckily, you have options to prevent damage from these caterpillars, which you can read about in our cutworm guide.
Pod Borers
Pod borers, also known as bollworms, are caterpillars that feed on the pods as well as foliage.
In addition to chickpeas, these larval moths are also considered pests of tomato, cotton, corn, alfalfa, and tobacco.
If you suspect pod borers on your crops, contact your local extension service – proper identification of these insects is important in deciding on how to control them.
For prevention, grow companion plants to attract beneficial insects.
Disease
If you grow your chickpeas in ideal conditions, you’ll be less likely to encounter disease problems. Here are a few to be aware of:
Ascochyta Blight
Aschochyta blight is a fungal disease caused by Ascochyta rabiei that can be introduced to your garden via infected seed or airborne spores.
Check plants for round or oval lesions that have concentric rings. These lesions can appear anywhere, including the stems.
This disease is more likely to occur when temperatures are mild, in the range of 59 to 77°F, humidity is high, and conditions are wet.
If your crop is infected with this disease, remove all affected plant material, and don’t grow these legumes in the same area again for the next four years.
To prevent Ascochyta blight, make sure to start with disease-free seed.
Damping Off
Damping off can cause young seedlings to suddenly sicken and collapse.
Damp and cool conditions provide a favorable environment for oomycetes, which attack seeds, sprouts, or seedlings, causing the stunted growth or death of seedlings.
Learn more about damping off here.
Fusarium Wilt
Fusarium wilt is a disease caused by a fungal pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. Along with wilting, another symptom to look for is yellowing leaves.
Warm moist conditions encourage the development of this disease.
The best prevention for fusarium wilt is starting with disease-free seed and taking care to water at the base of the crops instead of on the foliage.
Harvesting
If you’re feeling adventurous, you might want to try sampling some of the leaves of your plants. As with pea shoots, chickpea greens can be enjoyed either fresh or cooked.
Pick tender, young leaves but take care to harvest only a small amount so that the plants have enough energy for pod production.
For fresh, green chickpeas, you’ll need to squeeze the pods to check for ripeness.
When the green pods feel solid, they are ready to pick.
Treat green chickpeas similarly to peas – if you want to store them for long periods of time, you’ll need to freeze or otherwise preserve them.
For dry pulses, they’ll be ready to harvest approximately 100 to 130 days after sowing, depending on the variety.
Wait until the pods are brown and dry, or at season’s end uproot the plants and collect all the pods, setting them in a warm, dry location so they can continue drying out. The pods will split when they are ready.
To test a seed for dryness try pressing into it with your fingernail. If it leaves an indent, it needs more drying time. Check a few this way before you decide they are fully dry.
When they are dry, seeds can be removed from their pods and stored.
Preserving
You can preserve green chickpeas by freezing or canning them.
To freeze, first blanch the shelled peas for a couple of minutes in boiling water, then dunk them in an icy water bath.
Drain, and place in a freezer-proof container. Keep them in the freezer for up to 12 months.
They can also be canned in a pressure canner, similarly to peas.
You can learn more about canning vegetables on our sister site, Foodal!
Dried chickpeas can be stored for long periods of time – just make sure they are thoroughly dry before putting them in storage.
For long term storage, pack them in canning jars or mylar bags, and keep in a cool dark location.
Another preservation method to consider is dehydration, which you can learn about in our guide.
Cooking Ideas
Chickpeas are an excellent source of plant-based protein as well as B vitamins.
They can be used in a myriad of different ways, from soups and stews, to dips and sauces, and they can even be baked into delicious breads.
For a tasty and nourishing meal, add a scoop of chickpeas along with your favorite grains, cooked and raw veggies, and sprouts or microgreens to create an artful Buddha bowl.
If you’ve never tried making your own hummus, now’s probably a good time to start!
Need a recipe? Learn how to make roasted garlic hummus on our sister site, Foodal.
Want to create another healthy, plant based snack to keep on hand? Check out this recipe for smoky, spicy, roasted chickpeas – also at Foodal.
How ‘Bout That Homegrown Hummus
Did you finish off your bowl of hummus while reading? Now that you know how to grow your own crop of chickpeas you’ll soon be ready to whip up a batch of super local, homegrown dip.
Are you growing chickpeas? Let us know in the comments section below. And if you have any questions that weren’t addressed in this article, feel free to ask them there as well!
Want to learn more about growing legumes in the garden? We have more knowledge for you right here:
