Growing Chickpeas in Australia: The Complete Guide

Chickpeas is an easy legume to grow, needing full sun with low–moderate, drought-tolerant once established watering.

We get asked about chickpeas often enough that it's worth setting out the full picture here, beyond what fits on our printable card.

It's worth being clear about why chickpeas is worth the bed space before getting into how to grow it. At a glance, it's rated easy, with a sun of full sun; water of low–moderate, drought-tolerant once established; soil ph of 6.0–7.5 — details that matter more once you're actually planning around them than they do on a first read. The rest of this article works through exactly what each of those means day to day, in more depth than a single printable card has room for, and with the reasoning behind each recommendation rather than just the recommendation itself.

Climate and Timing Considerations

Australia's climate zones change growing timing more than most general advice accounts for. Cool temperate zones (Tasmania, the Victorian highlands, southern NSW) have recurring frost risk well into what other zones call spring, which compresses the safe planting window for frost-tender plantings. Warm temperate zones (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth) sit closest to what general advice assumes by default. Subtropical zones (Brisbane, northern NSW) rarely see frost at all, and the growing calendar shifts earlier and later as a result. Our site-wide zone setting adjusts the advisory note shown on the Planting Calendar for exactly this reason — worth setting once if you haven't already. The same zone setting also feeds the Harvest Calendar, so both ends of the growing cycle reflect wherever you actually garden, rather than a generic Australia-wide average.

• Cool Temperate (TAS, VIC highlands, southern NSW, ACT): shorter frost-free window — lean toward the later end of any spring planting window shown on the guide above.
• Warm Temperate (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, coastal NSW/WA): closest match to the general timing shown above; frost is occasional but rarely severe.
• Subtropical (Brisbane, northern NSW, coastal QLD): minimal frost risk — often plantable a few weeks earlier and later than the general window shown above.

Nitrogen fixers

Chickpeas are unusually drought-tolerant for a legume and, like their relatives, leave the soil richer in nitrogen for whatever's planted next.

Planting Chickpeas

Method. Direct sow once soil has warmed.

Soil. Well-drained; tolerates poorer soil than most legumes.

Timing. Sow in spring after frost risk passes.

None of these are difficult individually — the value is in getting all of them right at once.

Keeping It Growing Well

The key things to get right:

• Water while establishing; ease off once plants are growing well.
• Avoid overhead watering, which encourages fungal issues.
• Weed while young — plants are slow to cover the ground.
• Leave roots in place after harvest for the nitrogen benefit.

None of these are complicated on their own, but skipping one is a common source of trouble — water while establishing; ease off once plants are growing well. Leave roots in place after harvest for the nitrogen benefit. Treat this list as a routine to build rather than a one-off checklist, and it becomes second nature within a season or two.

Common Problems

A few things matter most here:

• Botrytis/fungal rot — humid, wet conditions; avoid overhead watering.
• Pod borer — larvae in developing pods; monitor and hand-pick.
• Poor pod fill — waterlogging; ensure good drainage.
• Few pests otherwise — a relatively trouble-free crop.

These aren't equally important, but all of them are worth building into your routine — botrytis/fungal rot — humid, wet conditions; avoid overhead watering. Few pests otherwise — a relatively trouble-free crop. Treat this list as a routine to build rather than a one-off checklist, and it becomes second nature within a season or two.

Picking and Keeping Your Harvest

Signs. Pods dry and rattle, plants yellow and die back.

Method. Pull whole plants once fully dry, then thresh pods.

Curing. Dry thoroughly on the plant or spread out after pulling.

Storage. Airtight, cool, dark — keeps a year or more dried.

Preserving. See Canning & Bottling for canning cooked beans, if you want them ready-to-eat on the shelf beyond the dry storage above.

These few details do most of the actual work, more than any single trick or shortcut would.

Companions & rotation

Our printable card above lists specific plants that pair well nearby and others best avoided, along with a rotation note: Corn, Cucumber, Onion, Garlic. Getting this right matters more over multiple seasons than it does in any single one — the benefits and the risks of poor rotation both compound over time rather than showing up immediately.

Related Guides

If chickpeas suits your garden, these related guides in the same category are worth a look too:

• Broad Beans
• Lentils
• Peas
• Snow Peas

That's the full picture behind chickpeas. The printable A4 version of this guide — with the quick-reference gauges and diagram in one page — is available on the main guide page below. If you're planning a whole bed rather than a single plant, our Companion Planting Checker is worth using alongside this guide. As with every guide on this site, this is general information based on our own research and experience, not professional advice — your specific soil, climate, and circumstances will always vary from ours to some degree.

Beyond the printable card, our Planting Calendar and Harvest Calendar tools will show a zone-adjusted note for chickpeas specifically, and the Companion Planting Checker covers the specific pairings mentioned above in more detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

→ View the printable A4 guide for chickpeas