How to grow Chickpea

Cicer arietinum · garbanzo, garbanzo bean, gram

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) — chickpea is a knee-high annual legume grown for its seeds, eaten green straight from the pod like fresh peas or left to ripen into the familiar dry chickpeas. It likes a cool spring and a warm, dry summer, copes with drought and light frost, and supplies its own nitrogen through root nodules.

Checked against sources: October 3, 2026

Quick facts

Type	Vegetable
Family	Fabaceae
Light	Full sun
Soil pH	6.5–8.6
Frost	tolerates light frost
Soil for sowing	from 10 °C
Germination	10 days
Sowing to harvest	100 days
Where it grows	Open ground

When to plant

It tolerates light frost: sow straight into the bed about three weeks before your last spring frost.

The first harvest comes about 100 days after the shoots appear.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Germination	—	—	—
Growth	every 14 days	21…29 °C	—
Flowering	every 10 days	21…29 °C	—
Fruiting	every 10 days	21…29 °C	—
Harvest	—	—	—

Growing notes

Light

Needs full sun and a warm, open site.

Soil

Light, well-drained sandy or silty loam, neutral to slightly alkaline; plants suffer in acid soil below pH 6.5. Avoid heavy clay and ground that stays wet. A rather poor soil is best — rich soil gives lush leafy growth that is prone to mildews.

Care

Sow where the plants are to grow, 4–6 cm deep, in early to mid spring once the soil reaches 10 °C — chickpeas resent transplanting. Space plants 7–13 cm apart in rows 20–25 cm apart; seedlings appear in 7–15 days. They need no nitrogen fertiliser, but where chickpeas have not grown before, inoculate the seed with chickpea rhizobia — the bacteria of peas and beans do not form nodules on them. Water only in long dry spells, mainly when the plants branch and when the pods fill; too much water gives leafy growth and delays ripening. Chickpeas grow best at 21–29 °C; heat over 30 °C at flowering cuts the pod set. Flowers appear about 50–60 days after sowing and green pods can be picked soon after; dry seed takes roughly 3–4 months. Pull dry chickpeas when most of the plants and pods have turned yellow. Wear gloves — the leaf hairs secrete an acid that irritates sensitive skin, and the pod tips are sharp. Mice and birds love the seeds and pods. Grow chickpeas in the same bed only every four years or more, and not straight after another legume.

Pests and diseases of Chickpea

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.