It may be climate adaptation. Garbanzos are sometimes grown in our area as winter cover crops with an "bonus" harvest (as long as the weather cooperates). Commercial seed for farmers comes pre-inoculated with the correct organisms to increase formation of nitrogen-producing nodules on the roots. Seed is planted in fall before the soil gets too cold and the plants are wintered over to produce beans when the weather starts to warm up again.

Garbanzos are also sold fresh in grocery stores here for a short season. The fresh beans seem popular with the Mexican-American population despite what seems to me to be a high price. Given the popularity of fresh garbanzo beans here, I'm a little surprised that edamame soybeans or fresh "shelly" beans aren't sold here in summer.

I think some nostalgia for Mexican practices is involved. It wouldn't surprise me if garbanzos were widely grown in Mexico in winter. A friend from Mexico once brought me a bag of seeds to plant in the fall. I don't know if I planted them at the right time, but my plants, while lovely, got a little mildew in the winter fog and weren't particularly productive (though I got more than 4 beans per plant).

I think there are some varieties of garbanzo with different climate adaptations.

Garbanzos can be tricky; as Carolyn mentioned, they appear to need a very specific climate. I grew them here in Wisconsin, with limited success. The plants were healthy, and set a large number of pods.

The problem was... the seeds are extremely sensitive to moisture, and the pods offer no protection whatsoever. Rain or over-head irrigation would cause any ripe seed to rot or sprout, even if the pods had not yet dried. I had to pick them whenever rain threatened, and still lost 80-90% of the seed to spoilage.

If you are in an area where the climate is arid, or at least dry during the period the seeds are ripening, you might have a good harvest.

Well I wouldn't call NC "arid" since we have like 100% humidity from April to November. It may not rain but it sure feels like a sauna out there.

I am going to grow them just for fun. I love the ferny leaves so I'll treat them as a "patio plant" and not grow them in the veggie garden.

Thanks for your input, friends!

Nancy

Now I am curious...I've never grown them but I might try a few just to see the plant it makes..

I've planted a short row and have been watching them. They are different. There is one bean per pod with 4 or 5 pods per branch. I'm not sure when to harvest but will let the plant start to die and than harvest. I planted about Jan and they didn't really start growing until a couple of months ago. They've bushed out and still have a few blooms.

belindach,
You might try picking some green, shelling and cooking like garden peas or "shelly" beans. If there are still some blooms, you may get a little longer harvest if you pick the first beans green.

I know I like to eat them. I plan on trying Black Kabouli this year.

For fun I sprouted and planted some of the chana dal I got at the Indian market - the germination rate was really really high, and they grew great here in CA. They set many pods per plant, probably 10 per stalk and maybe 4 stalks per plant, but the beans are tiny (pencil-eraser size at largest) and are only one or two per pod. I think they are a different variety than the larger middle-eastern garbanzos, which might set more per pod.

I planted two rows of about 12' and just harvested a bunch green - maybe half of what was on the plants, but it only amounts to about 4 cups in the pod. I was hoping to harvest for dry beans, but there has been a caterpillar invasion, so if I don't pick now, I likely won't get any!

If you pick them while green, do they not dry properly? Has anyone had the caterpillar problem?

Picked up a couple bags of dried garbanzo beans today and might try to grow them this year. Maybe with a rain cover over them!

How do they taste as a fresh shellie?

Bake the fresh shellie for it's nutty taste.Bake till skin turns brown.

Happy, I'm planning something similar this year, covering the plants when pod formation begins & using ditch irrigation beneath the shelter. Hopefully it will decrease the losses due to water damage. Haven't decided on the design yet; it will need to allow light, have good air circulation, exclude rain, and hold up against summer thunderstorms. A challenging combination... I'm open to suggestion. ;-) Hopefully we can compare notes at year's end.

The Wiki indicates they like a hot dry climate, so I was thinking of putting down black plastic to warm the soil, then hoops of wire or PVC over the bed and clear plastic stretched over that, though it will probably get blown off.

If a guy could still get some panels of the old corrugated fiberglass that greenhouses used to be made of, and nailed it to stakes over the row, that would be much better.