I read the post about chickpeas, which I don't like at all, but I started wondering about things you could sprout from your kitchen pantry and I thought of lentils.
Does anyone know how they grow? Could you grow them from a supermarket packet?
Are they tall, small, space-taking? And how do you actually harvest the darn things?
Or are they just used as green manure?
In France here we can get delicious lentils from the supermarket, they would be lovely to eat from the garden.
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/sprouting.html
Food for the future
The plants are much hardier than is commonly supposed and many of these varieties can succeed in Britain, particularly in warm summers. There is at least one, called 'WH2040', that can withstand temperatures as low as -23°c in the seedling stage[200]. 'Chilean' is a low-growing plant that can be grown in the winter in areas where winter vegetables can be grown[183]. 'HarLen' tolerates temperatures down to -10°c and performs very well in gardens[183]. The plants take the same time as peas to mature, so lentils are a potential commercial crop for Britain[141]. Yields of up to 2 tonnes per hectare are possible[200]. The main problem with growing them as a commercial crop is that they are produced by using cheap labour in many countries which makes it very difficult for British farmers to compete on prices. However, this does not preclude their being grown in the garden and allotment.
taken from here (http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lens+culinaris)
bit labour intensive to shell etc i'd have thought
I've tried sprouting lentils (brown and puy ones, whole, bought from the shops for cooking) and I've preferred them to mung bean sprouts...
I've also wondered about growing them for the seed. Never tried it. As has been said, very little info about it.
Came across this, with more info:
http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/vegetable/lentils/index.html
Recently bought a packet of "black beluga" lentils for cooking. Will try soaking and sprouting them to see if they'll grow :D
Mmm did a bit of research and I admit that I am tempted by growing a row or two, just to see what they look like. They fix nitrogen in the soil and like dry conditions apparently. Maybe they would be helpful near my summer crops like squash etc which like a bit of nitrogen in the soil???
If they don't seem very useful, I can always cut them down at the end of the season and use them as mulch...
I will try sprinkling out a few green Puy lentils from the pantry and see what happens. They obviously grow in France so that should work... I believe that at harvest time you cut off the little bush and lay it down in the sun then shake off the grains. Sounds like less work than picking beans or peas :D
Quote from: antipodes on April 18, 2007, 11:23:35
Sounds like less work than picking beans or peas :D
for dal type lentils, you'ld have to remove the husks