Here in Puerto Rico it is a tradition to plant pigeon pea we eat them dry or green we prepare them with rice it's callled arroz con gandules and with our special sofrito. We plant many plants and save the pigeon peas in the frizzer and we eat them all year round 🍛

I got my first pigeon peas as a gift from a Puerto Rican friend who heard I had bought a little hobby farm. "Plant these gandules!" he said. So I did and they grew quite well in our west central Florida location. After about the third year I noticed the pigeon peas, now about 8 feet tall, bloomed in the fall, around November, just when honeybees are entering a dearth (lack of pollen from blossoming plants) in my area. I wouldn't say they're the bees' favorite food, but by February they're all abuzz about them.

when you prune them, they release nitrogen from the roots into the soil, so it's great for a great nitrogen fixer

I created a hedge with mine this year and it is over 8 ft tall even though I've been pruning it all summer. The small birds love to hide in them and they are eating insects in the garden just like you said.

They are a staple in the Puertorrican diet. We call them gandules, and they are oh, so delicious!

Just thought I would mention that after watching a few KZfaq guys.. Geoff, Charles and your good self. I gave finally got my garden thoughts sorted out. Gardening can seem very complicated when you first look at it. Then you learn about Organic..how organic is different for so many people. Gardening is in the eye of the beholder tbh. I like permaculture and no dig. No dig as Charles dies it..doesn't work for me in Oz. Similar but without mulch forget it. This year though I've had my gardens flooded. After years of drought. I'm doing a veg and here garden in one area. Outside this I intend to grow a food Forrest. The " forrest" sheltering pumpkins ect from the sun whilst keeping my chooks and Guinea fowl out of my veg garden. Watching the layouts of Morags' garden and others has given me the blue print of what I will do. I'm a quiet person..I keep to myself tbh. So I really appreciate people who teach us to be better gardeners and custodians of nature. I love the birds we get, even the ever dig dig Bandicoots..lol. Life's good. It's even better now I can share this with my wife. We love it. Thanks Morag for the tips and encouragement.

Thank you Morag, I have called my local Indian food store (Apna Bazar at Bell and the 51 in North Phoenix), and they sell "arhar dal" aka whole pigeon peas. So, for the price of a pack of dried peas, I will have some seeds to soak and then plant in my two new raised beds. Since I need to "get roots in the ground" ASAP,, planting edible cover crop plants that can help establish fungi is a great thing to learn about and do affordably. Here in Phoenix (hardiness zone 9b), the early warm spring will be upon us shortly. Thank you for highlighting the benefits of pigeon pea. As my cousin in Rhode Island would say, "You're a peach!"

You are my go-to garden advisor.. love your work Morag xx

Thank you very informative. We plan on getting hair sheep once we run a few goats to clear the high weed. as people here say this will make excellent fodder as well as soil building and be & bird food for our very weedy, rugged, almost soilless 4 acres in Puna Hawaii

this pea is very popular here in Barbados. I have some planted, we eat the raw as children :)

I see she is from Australia & most likely in a tropical area & in tropical areas the pigeon pea grows into a shrub or small tree & they can in the subtropics if you protect them from frost. It is possible to grow them as a 'annual" in warm temperate climates with 90-120 plus day frost-free growing season!!!!!

for the rice recipie ,you get about 2 pork chops, or any meat cut it up and cook in a pot "caldero" then add garlic, chicken stock ,add the pigeon peas,achiote,oregano boil in about 1 or 2 glasses of water taste to see if it needs more adobo or salt let it boil add rice it should boil ,then cover...I'm sure you can get this recipe on youtube... arroz con gandules! buen provecho from Puerto Rico...I love watching your videos.

Thank you so much. We actually planted them and didn't know that they had so much potential in Permaculture. Thank you ma'am 🙏 ❤️ From Kerala, India.

Thank you for providing the germination instructions! That's exactly what I was looking for!

yes look up arroz con gandules Puerto Rico's main rice dish ,,thank you so much your inspiring..

great video

Just about to head south for our new home... this is the kind of information I'm craving. More please on starting out, establishing... so great! Thank you

Lovely message from a lovely lady

one more thing almost forgot dear we often use ham cubits or smoked salami to compliment the dish with sofrito coriander Onion sweet pepper n garlic as the base ..enjoy! love your vids so informative good day!

Wonderful information as usual...thank you Morag Just starting my food forest so growing some pigeon peas and decided to grow a hedge of them between my neighbours and I while I am waiting for my young citrus trees to catchup!!!

Beautiful lady, inside and out.

Great shrub for Zone 9b Florida. Doesn't mind the sandy soil or the heat. Most of the time I use the green peas. I put them in my Instant Pot with rice and spices. Yum. Added use I'm growing pole beans up a few of mine this year.

I planted some this year. Hoping they get big.

I brought a few from India to California. I am in Zone 9. Hoping they survive the winter and come back to life the following year.

By 25 degrees I assume Celsius ? Since you said warm that’s about 77 Fahrenheit for my fellow Americans.

love peas and these do go well with rice :)

Thanks Gorgeous lady.

I learned something today :)

Great video thank you. My new tree of one year is very large and doing well, tall and wide. I prune the width to keep some space for the lemon tree. When can I expect to get flowers and peas?

hi morag great vid I just planted some wish me luck!

The peas to the Jamaican "rice and peas". Known to us as Gungo peas. I wonder how it will grow in the UK....?

I heard you can eat the Tips as a cooked green. Is that so? Thank you for sharing. We have been using them here on Madeira Island, Portugal. Coming from brazil or africa, they're called Feijao Guandu. Much Love

Great video Morag I will looka around for this pioneer plant. Will you be doing more videos on more pioneer plants?

KZfaq been hiding this channel from me!

I love pigeon peas so much, and have many all through my garden. I am wondering whether you sprout the dried peas to eat also Morag?

Will pigeon pea grow in cold climates, I live near Frankfurt in Germany, would love to grow this tree if possible. If not is there a cold temperate version? I want to use it as fodder too, for my poultry and cows

here in the carribean we use it in rice ..

What's the best way to hull them?

Do they grow in North America? In North Carolina?

Will these grow in SE Texas ?

I have tried growing red pigeon pea it didnt get this big any tried and tested seed source in USA?

Lentils are bless for animals, soils and other tree ... For indian it's regular lentil rice, or bread with lentil ... So we don't give them huge value philosophically .. though it's important like rice and wheat in india .. also we cooked lentil with turmeric which is also healthy .. we makes lentil with veg oil, turmeric, jira, chopped corriendor or tomato ... Rarely with onion and garlic .. protein without cholesterol ... Though in our bengali cuisine we rarely use peogeon pea .. we use moong dal, musur dal, kolai dal .. i forget english name .. Dal is lentil in indian language ...

Can i grow in melboune? ?

I need to know about what type of fertilizer n p k to use for pigeon pea

For months I've been trying to find the yield per plant of dry bean/peas from this plant. Does anyone know? I can't seem to find it anywhere. Would like to grow these but don't know how many to plant because I have no idea of the yield.