Seasons: Monsoon

A long curling gourd of southern and eastern kitchen gardens.

Drought-hardy bean of the west — fixes nitrogen and crops where little else will.

Pods, beans and green manure from one undemanding monsoon plant.

A four-angled pod from the north-east and the coasts — every part is edible.

A shrubby pulse that stands two years, fixes nitrogen and shelters small birds.

A short monsoon pulse, sown between crops as much as for the dal.

Sixty days from sowing to dal, and sproutable on a kitchen shelf.

The hardiest pulse of the dry deccan, grown where rain is unreliable.

Upright, bell-flowered and ancient; the oilseed of the dry season.

The grain that carries the western desert through a bad monsoon.