Grow Fresh Chickpea Greens at Home Easily and Enjoy Winter’s Most Nutritious and Delicious Superfood

Lifestyle News: As winter sets in, our eating habits naturally shift toward fresh, seasonal produce. This chilly season brings an abundance of nutritious greens-like mustard, fenugreek, and spinach-and among them, chickpea greens hold a special place. These tender leaves aren’t just flavorful but are packed with essential nutrients that boost overall health. The best part? You can easily grow chickpea greens at home and enjoy their freshness all winter long. They grow quickly and don’t demand much care, so you can harvest the tender leaves even before the chickpeas mature. In this guide, we’ll explore how to grow chickpea greens step-by-step in a simple pot right in your kitchen garden, making your winter meals both healthy and homegrown.

Different varieties of chickpeas are available in the market, such as Desi chickpeas, which are smaller, and Kabuli chickpeas, which are larger in size. However, if you want to grow greens, there's no need to worry too much about the chickpea variety. Simply choose good quality seeds. Let's learn how to grow them.

What essential things will be needed?

If you have space in your kitchen garden, you can grow chickpea greens in the ground. However, you'll need a seed tray to plant the seeds in. If you want to grow chickpea greens in a pot, you can plant the seeds directly. For this, choosing a container with a length and width, rather than a round one, is preferable. Additionally, you'll need seeds and fertilizer. Let's learn how to grow chickpea greens.

This is how to prepare the soil for greens

If you're sowing chickpeas in the ground, make sure the soil is fertile and ensures proper drainage. If you're growing greens in containers, add fertilizer based on the soil's fertility. If the soil is fertile, add 1 part fertilizer, if the soil is medium, add 2 parts fertilizer, or even 3 parts, or 30 percent vermicompost, leaving the remaining 70 percent soil. Fill the pots with this mixture, but make sure there's a proper drainage system.

Sowing chickpea seeds

Chickpea seeds should be planted at least 9 centimeters (about 3 inches) apart, as this plant grows like a bush and needs space to grow. If you're planting small varieties, plant them 1 inch deep, or for larger varieties, plant them 2 inches deep. Afterward, provide some moisture to the soil. If you're just growing greens, you don't need a trellis for support.

How to do harvesting

Chickpea seeds germinate in 3 to 5 days. If you only want to eat the greens, the chickpea plant is ready for harvesting in at least 20-25 days. When the plants reach at least 6 to 8 inches tall and the leaves appear dense, you should harvest the tops. After this, the remaining plant begins to grow again. This also increases future yields.

Chana Saag Harvesting

Keep these things in mind

• If you want to sprout gram in advance, then soak it in water overnight and then wrap it in a wet cloth and keep it in a warm place.
• Keep the container of chana saag in an open place so that it gets at least 4-6 hours of sunlight and there is less chance of water stagnation in the pot.
• When growing chickpea greens, make sure the soil remains slightly moist. To do this, water the plants in small amounts daily instead of pouring water all at once.
• Although, to grow greens, you do not need to add fertilizer to the soil again and again, but if the plant is not growing properly then use organic liquid fertilizer.