If interested you'll find many discussions about them on the Beans & Legumes forum. Interesting reading. Our personal favorites are Mississippi Silver Crowder and Pink-Eye Purple Hull but if it is black eyed you want just buy a bag of them at the grocery store to plant. Yes they are bush varieties - tall bushes but self-supporting.

Dave

Concur with digdirt, If you like blackeyes, the grocery store varieties will usually be an improved type comapared to the California # 5, which most vendors sell to home gardeners. Pinkeye Purples hulls are similar in size and flavor and gaining in popularity. Both will be bush forms. The vining types will usually be old time varieties as they are not adaptable to machine harvest. Big Boy is in the class for flavor and texture and is one of my favorites. Zipper is also good and easier to sell. If you prefer a stronger flavor look at some of the colored crowders.

Thanks, Gentlemen! I guess I am interested in trying a type that I can't get at the grocery store, since I can get that other variety at the grocery store, you know? Miss. Silver and Pink Eye Purple Hull are both in my catalog, so thanks for letting me know their relative heights! Some of the others are Big Red Ripper (oh my!), Calico Crowder, Whippoorwill, Peking Black Crowder, Colossus, and Queen Ann Blackeye. I wonder what a stronger flavor tastes like. Maybe I will have to grow one descirbed as flavorful to find out...

Oh, and any recommendation on how many feet to sow for 2 people? Not looking to set up a supply for the winter, just have some for dinner in season. Thanks! (I'll head off to the Legume forum now to see what's what over there...)

Sunni

I'm a Yankee too who started exploring Southern vegetables in the past few years, under the influence of some good folks on these forums. Cowpeas are a terrific subject for experimentation. There are countless varieties. You mentioned some good ones. I see you are doing your research. Pink Eye Purple Hull has become a standby with me but I will grow Calico Crowders and Whippoorwills this year just for the fun of it.

Cowpeas are the most trouble-free crop I grow. They have no stringent soil or weather requirements and pretty much pest free. I don't know why they aren't more popular in the North. They do well here.

The fresh shellys are just wonderful, eaten with good cornbread and some of the pot likker, chow chow and a bit of hot sauce.

I know you will like the Bean and Legume Forum. There are some truly knowledgeable gardeners over there who really get into some depth.

Jim

I like Pink Eyed Purple Hull too. It is easy to tell when they are ready to pick and they are easier to spot on the bush.

We lived in Indiana when I first began gardening 30 years ago, and I would have been considered an "Upper South" resident before then. So, other than my grandma, I had no experience even eating cowpeas until we landed here in Mississippi twenty years ago. Last year was the very first time I grew cowpeas, and I am so in love with them! (So in love, that I find myself dreaming of them as much as I am craving homegrown tomatoes...Honest!)

I grew Mississippi Zipper Creams last year. They are so delicious and very easy to grow. I grow in raised beds that are 8' x 3.5' wide. I planted them about 4 to 5 inches apart intensively in the bed. They did great. They are lovely plants that are bigger than what you normally think of when you think "bush", but they certainly do not need staking. They just kind of put out a "half runner" here and there. One of their charms is they put up a long woody stem, then they bloom and set fruit at the top of the stem (three pods per stem), making picking very very easy. On top of that, the variety I grew changes from green to a light cream color when it's ready to pick. The 8x3 bed was enough to pick about twice a week for about a month. This year, I plan to devote two beds to them so I can stagger them a month apart and have an ongoing supply. Someone may laugh at me, saying I should have left the plants alone. The plants looked quite healthy, but they didn't seem to be blooming, so I pulled them out and planted more. (Would love to hear from someone more knowledgeable if I didn't do this right.)

I understand that they can be attacked by Mexican Bean Beetles, but I never saw any last year on any of my bean crops, so cannot comment. My soil was newly worked and amended, and the cowpeas were by far the best producing crop I planted. (I will also say that the Pink Eyed Purple hulls are extremely popular around here too. They're good eating.)

Also, like alot of vegetables, the flavor of these peas fresh cannot be compared to them canned or even frozen.

Thanks guys! I'm about narrowed in on my selection, then. I'm leaning towards PEPH, but that does say semi-bush which might be a bit large, and I wonder if I might like a stronger flavored pea... runners up are Collosus and Mississippi Silver. It seems like so many of the summer crops that do well here are big sprawling vines! I need a bigger piece of land!!!! Thanks for all your details, Donna and Jim. Now I have a little better idea what to expect, and what to do with them besides my own favorite winter recipe (which involves ham, cabbage, smoked paprika, onion, and hot sauce).

Oh, and I did enjoy the Legume forum, lots of good stuff there! Including a link to the Purple Hull Festival... what a hoot!

Oh, yeah.... You're talking southern cooking now. But, my friend who told me what kind of seed to buy also told me how to cook them in a more healthful way. You just cover them with water. Add salt and a teaspoon of sugar plus 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil. Boil them gently until soft, which is only about 30 minutes for the type I grew. I was skeptical, but I bet you'll like this way. Cornbread is definitely a requirement. :0)

Search "Hoppin' John" over on the Harvest forum and you'll find the recipe. It is a very traditional southern cowpea recipe using peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, etc.

Dave