red & green lentils

[Mrs Ava]

Has anyone ever grown these on their plot?? I have a packet of each and fancy giving them a whirl this year.

Advice please.  Have tried googling....but I am not a farmer in the deep south of America!! ;D

[Mrs Ava]

[Derekthefox]

Not me Emma, I gather that you need hot conditions, I just accept that some things are going to be too hard (for me anyway) ...

[Ceratonia]

There's been a fair bit of agricultural research to see if they'd be a viable crop for UK farmers and the conclusion is that they aren't because harvesting them is labour intensive and because there's no EU subsidy, rather than because they won't grow here. They're grown in plenty of places which get more frost than us, so must be reasonably hardy. In India, they're grown as a winter crop because it's too hot for them in summer. I wonder if you need a big area to get a reasonable size crop, though?

Red split lentils won't germinate, but the green ones can be soaked in water for a few hours and then sprouted quite easily - you can eat them like bean sprouts.

[Svea]

interesting! i wonder what lentil plants and seed podslook like? a bit like beans/peas??

[Daisy_Jane]

A friend of mine did her PhD research into lentils ... she spent half the year in the States sewing and harvesting them because the climate is not right for growing here.

[Derekthefox]

That is a very good excuse ...

[Ceratonia]

Sounds like a good excuse to go to America to me  :)

I guess there must be different varieties with a range of preferred growing conditions.  The research I saw involved growing lentils in a number of  locations, mainly around Durham, but also covered much of the UK including places like the hebrides. It talked about both autumn and spring sowings. One advantage of lentils is that they do better on soil with low fertility and will fix nitrogen.

You see fields of them growing in the Haute Loire - Puy lentils I guess. They're the same family as vetches, so look like weeds if you don't know what they are.

[Mrs Ava]

hmmm, so do I try them....will I be wasting valuable growing space....hmmmm...

[Derekthefox]

Well I would rather waste your space trying to grow them, than waste mine ...  ;D

[redimp]

They sound suitable for use as a green manure and being allowed to go to seed.

[carloso]

Ej !!!

i cant believe your even asking !!!  you have the packets of seed there ! and like your going to throw them away, Put them in the draw SAFE, what about the mantle poece somthing to tell the nephew

Yr's later sat in Auntie Ej's lounge the Nephew visits:-

Nephew:-  "Hello auntie Ej, whats that on your mantle?"

EJ:-            "ow nephew there packets of seed that auntie Ej was going to grow, but i didnt know if  they would grow on my plot"

Nephew:-   "Ow auntie Ej what was the out come"

Ej:-              "i dont know i WASTED them by leaving them on the mantle"

Nephew:-               " Silly auntie Ej, I bet you have never wasted anything since"

The moral of the story if you have the seed why waste it in a draw when there will be a bit of space somewhere to experiment!!!

Carlos  ;)

[grawrc]

EJ I know like nothing about lentils except that they're very tasty, but like carloso says, if you've got the seeds there, give it a go!! Don't waste it!

At worst you've wasted a plot within your plot for a few months; at best you've produced an ace crop. They store forever so if a small section works this year you could extend it next.

If you really decide you can't be bothered I'd be happy to try some experimentally on my new (second ) plot which is currently knee high weeds but is ( I'm promised) about to be attacked by my home-grown gorgeous grim reaper
with his scythe.

[Mrs Ava]

HAHHAHAHAH Carl!  That did make me laugh!

Okay, okay, you have both convinced me to give them a whirl....I will squeeze them in, even if I have to reclaim a spare bit of path, temporarily you understand! I will take a photo diary of their progress as I am sure you will all be waiting with bated breath!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D

[supersprout]

I'm with ceratonio EJ, enjoy lentil sprouts a lot, especially in winter munch munch  :P.

The pix I've seen show two or three lentils per pod so you might have to grow a couple of acres for a bagful and you might have to practice your threshing technique  :-[ BUT the joy of it all is experimentation isn't it?  ::)

Good luck, look forward to the pix  ;D