I'm pretty far North & expect nothing below the mid-40's F. for the next 10 days... you must be really far North. ;-) As others have commented above, you can harvest cowpeas (including blackeyes) either green or dry. If the pods have begun to change color or wither, you could pull those pods to dry... but it might be better to just harvest them green & shell out those with expanded pods. The shelled beans can be used fresh, or blanched & frozen. Young, immature pods can be used as snaps. In the future, there are short DTM cowpeas which are more likely to mature in short-season areas. MN 13 (which I grew this year) and MN 150 are true-bush cowpeas, bred to mature in Minnesota. If you want to grow longer-season cowpeas (including blackeyes) you might want to consider starting them as transplants. I start climbing cowpeas & yardlong beans as transplants every year, with consistently good results.

I think that is not much soil to grow that number of plants, so likely we are seeing the beginnings of nutrient deficiency. In general yellowing/browning leaves that start at the bottom and work upwards is indicative of insufficient nutrition.

Yes, must have hoppin' John and some sort of greens. If you're lazy, you can do like I'm doing tomorrow: HOPPIN� JOHN (Foodgawker) 1 pound dry black eyed peas, soaked overnight 4 cups chicken broth 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced 1/2 cup instant rice (or use 1 cup already cooked rice, and stir it in at the very end) 1 (10.5-ounce) can Rotel 1 bunch of collard greens or kale, chopped 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Soak your beans overnight in a bunch of water and drain well in the morning and rinse in cool water. Put the beans directly into your slow cooker. Add broth and sliced sausage. Stir in the rice and rotel. Add greens, and sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Cover ( you may need to shove in greens to get the lid on nicely) and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or until the beans are soft. Stir well before serving. (I'm using regular rice added toward the end.)

L, it's something we like too, I like most "peasant food". We always called it "farmer food", and now it's called "southern food", LOL. But I was born in Michigan and my Grandmother is from Ohio, and we ate a lot of beans and cornbread, but we called it "Johnny Cake". Usually Navy or Great Northern beans, though, whereas Elery's Kentucky/Tennessee family mostly had pinto beans. Our cornmeal was yellow, theirs was white. Ours had a bit of sugar, maybe a tablespoon per batch, his had no sugar. His sister informed me at our first meeting that if it was made with yellow cornmeal and any sugar at all, it wasn't cornbread, it was cake. (grin) I was further instructed that cornmeal MUST be white, there must be no flour in the recipe, and no sugar, or it wasn't "right". I'm a heathen, though, I like it all! Annie