Chickpea / Garbanzo (Cicer arietinum)

Month on the bottom, temperature up the side. The pale green background is what the plant can survive at all -- fatal above or below it, labelled directly on the chart where that applies to your zone. The coral band is its ideal range, and only fades in during the months this zone would actually have the crop in the ground -- reusing the exact same sowing/harvesting data as the calendar further down the page. The blue line is real monthly climate data (not a modelled estimate) for a representative rural/agricultural location in this zone -- a small farming town or agricultural research station rather than a major city, to avoid the warmer bias city weather stations have. For the actual verdict on how well this crop does in your zone, see the badge at the top of the page -- that's based on the site's own researched yield figures, not this chart.

1. Sow direct after frost risk passes. Sow direct once the risk of hard frost has passed -- Desi types tolerate more cold than Kabuli types, so timing can flex a little by variety.
2. Keep foliage dry where possible. Avoid overhead watering once plants are established -- damp foliage late in the season encourages the fungal disease chickpea is most vulnerable to.
3. Let the crop dry down in the field. Stop watering as pods mature and let the whole plant dry down naturally in the field, relying on a dry summer to finish the job.
4. Pull plants once pods rattle. Pull whole plants once the pods are dry and rattle with the seed loose inside, rather than picking pods individually.
5. Thresh, dry further and store airtight. Thresh out the seed, spread it somewhere warm and airy for a final week of drying, then store in an airtight container.

Pick your zone under "Temperature Range by Month" above and this updates too. Boreal and Alpine show no window at all, since this site's own yield data marks chickpea as not viable in either.

Chickpea is a genuine calorie staple when dried at 3,640 kcal per kg -- in the same league as wheat. Mediterranean gives the best yield here, unsurprisingly given the crop's own preferences.

Figures per plant sown, dried weight, from the site's own crop database. Maritime and Continental already reflect the 60% penalty applied to challenging zones.

Chickpeas split into two genuinely distinct types rather than a wide range of branded cultivars. Both below are open-pollinated (OP), meaning seed saved from them breeds true and is worth keeping under this site's seed-saving approach; neither is an F1 hybrid.

Chickpea is self-pollinating with very low crossing risk -- one of the easiest legumes to save seed from, even grown close together.

Chickpea is grown here specifically for dried storage -- whole plants are pulled once the pods are dry and rattle, then threshed and given a final week of airing indoors before going into an airtight container.

Stored this way in a cool, dry place, dried chickpeas keep for a genuinely long time -- years rather than months, the same storage league as wheat, oats and this site's other dried staples.

Fungal disease in damp conditions is the main risk to watch for, not insect pests -- chickpea foliage is genuinely vulnerable to fungal blight when it stays wet.

Avoiding overhead watering and giving plants enough spacing for airflow is the single most effective input-free defence -- it keeps foliage drier without any spray needed.

Chickpea fixes its own nitrogen via bacteria in root nodules, genuinely improving the soil for whatever's grown there next -- factor that into a wider rotation plan, not just a calorie one.