Chickpeas
Chickpeas: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
Chickpea, Cicer arietinum, is an annual member of the pea family grown for its edible seeds. Despite its name, it differs from the garden pea, which belongs to the genus Pisum. Its branching stems form a small bush rather than a long climbing plant. Stems and leaves have fine hairs, and the leaves usually consist of small, toothed leaflets. This delicate foliage gives the plant a different appearance from beans with large, broad leaves.The flowers have the typical shape of legume flowers and may be white or show pink to violet tones, depending on the cultivated type. They are followed by short, swollen, hairy pods, most commonly containing one or two seeds. These are therefore quite different from long pods holding a row of many peas. Flowering and pod formation make the life cycle visible, before the plant moves towards yellowing and drying as it matures.The seeds are rounded to…
