The person who posted asking what legumes to grow in their area prompted me to post this. I've waited a few days. Just now i was going to post directly to tropical since he's probably the main person who has the answers i am looking for. But then i thought a) who knows what else others may know and b) others may find this info useful, if not now, then later. So, I want to grow legumes in my garden. What are my choices and where are the best places to get seed and when should i plant them. I live in the tropics. We have a rainy hot season and usually (but not this year) a dry cool season. Before the rain comes its dry and very hot. Its very much like an Indian climate here but just not so intense. I live by the sea as well though not on the beach. I've thought peanuts would be good but i've noticed they are not usually grown at all down here on the coast. Maybe its too hot or mouldy for them. I want to use the legumes as green mulch but if some have food productive use, i'd like to be able to take advantage of that too since i eat a lot of legumes and I love peanuts. Should i plant during the wet to avoid the need to water them. Where else can i get info about growing legumes.
g'day sunburn, some cane farmers grow navy beans between cane crops, saw a segment on landline yeserday a farmer was using a broad leaf type bean might have missed what he said it was maybe you could check landline show it may tell you. not sure about peanuts they seem to like the dry kingaroy area, though they do grow them in the NT somewhere, saw that on landline a long time ago? maybe in the last 4 years? peanuts no good if there are bandicoots around. len
ah yes we do have at least one bandicoot so perhaps i will try a small patch first. As to the beans, I will see if the local agricultural supplier will have something. Actually last night i read about organic cane farming and read this thing about growing between the rows. Apparenlty the reason is that the next crop will be grown on top of that bean mulch. Sounds pretty smart. Thanks for your tips.
Mostly my shady garden is a death trap for any i have tried. Plus this year we had freezing temperatures These links may help you:_ https://www.heritageseeds.com.au/products.php?type=tropical legumes https://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Present/Shelton/default.htm Interesting:- https://www.tropicallegumes.org/ The library may have this? https://aciar.gov.au/publication/PR115 https://books.google.com/books?id=s...=onepage&q=Tropical Legumes Australia&f=false Of course most wattles are legumes.
I forgot to note in my last post that i am not planting wattles. They are annoying up here. We had them before and still have some. They throw up suckers all over and won't go away. I find them a pest. Thanks for the links michaelangelo.
A few legumes amongst these two sources, I am sorry its a lazy answer but I dont have personal experience in Tropical area growing, so its the best I can offer that I have seen in my seed gathering travels. https://www.greenharvest.com.au/seeds/seeds_hot_humid_areas.html https://www.permaculturenursery.com.au/seeds/docs/SeedCatalogue.pdf Cheers, Charles
I'm not Tropical so I have no experience, but in Geoff Lawton's DVD Establishing a Food Forest, he mentions heaps.
Peanuts I've decided to grow peanuts. I also learnt that cowpeas are good up here. (also known as snake beans). Other things are Lukina and pigeon pea. Soybeans, lablab (still not sure what that is) and mung beans. There's also acacia but i don't like these as they make suckers and can be hard to get rid of. Especially if you don't want them as trees. Ive decided to get peanuts as they are a crop that I would like to have, the peanuts keep as well. And they go well in my climate although i read that there can be fungal disease (helped i think by the addition of gypsum to the soil) and there can be pests but here with lots of natural pest control methods they might do better. Anyway I am looking forward to growing peanuts. Unfortunatley i just can't sew tehm by scattering. I will have to cultivate. I found a good basic link. The Peanut Van - How Peanuts Are Grown Peanuts grow best in loose, well-drained soils. Some species do better under irrigation but others manage quite well in fairly dry climates. ... www.peanutvan.com.au/how-peanuts-are-grown.php - Cached
For veges ... winged bean - edible pods and edible tuberous root Jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus) - edible root eaten raw or cooked (still crunchy after cooking, like water chestnut) snake beans - you can get climbing or bush varieties Fenugreek -edible lvs. (methi in Indian cooking), seeds as spice, N-fix green manure Mung, soy, adzuki, lab lab, black turtle beans (grow with maize, squash and tomatillos if you're into Mexican food) Then there are some good tree legumes for the tropics that provide food and other services... biomass, support for vinecrops, compost food, firewood, logs for growing mushrooms, insecticides, medicinal etc. Sesbania sesban- N-fix, firewood (kindling) Sesbania grandiflora- N-fixer, edible fls., lvs., seedpods Leuceana spp.- N-fixer, edible young seed pods-garlicy flavour. Crotalaria grahamiana- wide and short, N-fix C.semperflorens - narrow and tall, N-fixer Gliricidia sepium- NFT, living fence, nurse tree, firewood, incecticide, rodenticide, fodder for ruminant livestock.... Cajanus cajan- edible seeds (toor dahl) , firewood, NFT Calliandra calothyrsus- NFT, firewood, charcoal, fodder also, some useful non legumes that a tropical garden shouldn't be without Moringa oleifera- food, immature pods, lvs., roots, fls. Sauropus androgynus- edible lvs. and fr., good as small hedge Cassava- edible lvs. (after cooking), starchy roots. if it's for improving the soil.... Mulch plants. there are many plants that can be grown (usually from cuttings) to occupy spaces that are easy to cut down or dig out. They cycle nutrients until you're ready to use the space and then can become compost, but look good in while they're growing. Just a few sugestions... Salvia spp.- use species less inclined to spread via runners Acalypha spp.- easy to cut and throw down as mulch , colourful lvs. Megaskepasma erythroclamys- soft wooded shrub to around 2-3m, beautiful maroon bracts over white fls. Justicia adhatoda (syn. Adhatoda vasica)- traditional green manure shrub in Sri Lanka, soft wooded. https://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/Products/AFDbases/af/index.asp https://www.agroforestry.net/tti/index.html https://www.agroforestry.net/pubs/index.html https://www.tropicalfoodforest.com/
thanks for all that. I do like black turtle beans. I hope i can find the others when i decide to try them. what are those winged beans like to eat? Are they yummy? I'd like to grow fenugreek as I have a recipe for their leaves. And of course i use the spice. I guess i better check out those links.
