Asparagus Pea
 

Sounds like an affliction, doesn't it? But that would probably be
spelled a little different.

Anyway, I ordered a packet of seeds for asparagus peas (Tetragonolobus
purpureus or Lotus tetragonolobus) last night for one of my novelty
vegetables this year. Has anyone grown them before? The web pages that
mention them tend to say the flowers are pretty, but the peas are late
to bear and don't produce much. Would giving them some support help?

Summers here tend to be hot and very short if that matters.

Thanks, regards,
Bob

Asparagus Pea
 

The message
from zxcvbob contains these words:

Sounds like an affliction, doesn't it? But that would probably be
spelled a little different.

Anyway, I ordered a packet of seeds for asparagus peas (Tetragonolobus
purpureus or Lotus tetragonolobus) last night for one of my novelty
vegetables this year. Has anyone grown them before? The web pages that
mention them tend to say the flowers are pretty, but the peas are late
to bear and don't produce much. Would giving them some support help?

Summers here tend to be hot and very short if that matters.

I grew them once a few years back, and won't be bothering gain. Yes,
the flowers are pretty and the pods are late; even the smallest freshest
ones are horribly stringy and taste nothing like either peas or
asparagus. More like, er, cardboard.

Janet (Scotland, cool summers).

Asparagus Pea
 

Janet Baraclough.. wrote:
-snip-
I grew them once a few years back, and won't be bothering gain. Yes,
the flowers are pretty and the pods are late; even the smallest freshest
ones are horribly stringy and taste nothing like either peas or
asparagus. More like, er, cardboard.


My experience was similar. 2 summers ago was my first try. I got
2 plants from the packet. Blamed the wet spring & soil. Got about
5-6 'peas'- and rather than eat them I saved the seed.

Last summer I planted the seed & got about a dozen plants. I ate 3
or 4 of several dozen peas that these plants produced & tilled the
rest back in last fall. Even the tiniest ones were tough and
tasteless.

They remind me of a perennial [or at least freely self-seeding]
groundcover that I saw growing along a wall in the wild once. As
wild plants they have some interest because of the unusual pod &
flower-- but as an edible I found them lacking.

Jim [zone 5- upstate NY]