Amaranth

[plainolebill]

We planted some this summer as a cooking green (in this case red) and it does real well in the heat of summer. It tastes somewhat like spinach with the leaves being a little more robust. Polish Amaranth is the variety we planted.

First time growing it and we plan to put some in next year too.

 

[lesa]

I am warning you- if you don't want it growing all over your property for many years to come, do not leave those seed heads standing!! I fell in love with amaranth a few years ago. I can't keep up with up now. I was good about pulling the big ones out- now I see tiny plants, no bigger than 3 inches going right to seed. I fear I will not win this battle! Amaranth makes mint look meek! Happy Gardening!

 

[897tgigvib]

Amaranths are one of the more beautiful architectural, and also satisfying plants to grow.

One of the best things about them is their amazing production of grain. That means they make a lot of seeds. Little tiny seeds. So the best thing to do is harvest those seeds. It makes a good dense flour ground and sifted. Best to keep and then to mix with Wheat flour or cornmeal.

I finished harvesting every plant of Golden Giant Amaranth, a blonde seeded variety with tasty glossy light green greens, and Guarijio, a black seeded and red headed very tall variety.

I am already getting sprouts in my garden from harvesting them. I consider that a good thing, because those sproutlings will not make it through winter and are easy to hose hard or rake down. With the weather this way, it is good germinating weather. So I'm letting the weeds do their germinating now.



Already planning for next year's garden. Included in those plans are a third variety of Amaranth, one with red heads and leaves, but that has blonde seeds. One of the local seed companies has a variety like that. I do plan on keeping my Amaranths under control. Yes, I find some of those little squirt Amaranth plants under my Beans and such, and my walking rows have tons of seed in them. I'll be doing a lot of compost topping in my beds, and wood chip layering on the walks, and still get Amaranth weeds. But I'll get almost all of them. I want the 3 varieties planted where I want. I do not want them creating shade volunteering. So it'll be some control.

Next year's garden will also have a lot of Quinoa, in about 5 varieties , and the north bed will be all bramble berries with perhaps some low grower vegetables between them to mature before the vines get huge. There will be no Amaranth allowed in that bed at all. Lots of weeding in spring to get the weed sprouts.

The red headed Amaranths sure are beautiful, as are the blonde headed ones! Beauty, structure, texture, almost Swiss Chard tasting leaves, and yes, tender new leaves for garden munching. It's a multi talented plant!

 

[digitS']

It used to be placed in a separate family but spinach is now classified as an amaranth.

I have only grown Love-lies-bleeding and Prince's Feather and just for ornamental purposes. And yes, there was green match for Prince's Feather - I think Johnny's offered them both. The green amaranth looked so much like pigweed, I couldn't think of why anyone would see it as ornamental. There may be good reason to use caution regarding invasive self-sowing. I bet I could go one better than Lesa in finding a pigweed that is less than 1", busy going to seed :/.

Still, there should also be a good reason to take an interest in this family as food. Dang, it is nice to have plants that actually want to grow in our gardens!

If spinach is an amaranth then orache must be also. It self-sows but I've never seen tiny plants making those big seeds. Orache is always the first green (it is purple ) that I can harvest in the garden. There's always so much of it from 1 or 2 "mother plants" that I have to thin it a bit, transplanting works, and can pick as much as we need. Orache is so tender that it makes a good salad plant to go with the very first of the lettuce.

I find an out of the way corner where a mother plant or 2 can be saved. It takes a full season for an orache plant to mature seed. It is September and those 2 plants still haven't dropped a seed . . .

I wonder if it isn't a matter of careful selection of amaranth species. (Do you suppose that orache seed could be used as a flour?)

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

The family is Chenopodiaceae, the Genus is Amaranth, and there are something like 5 species of Amaranth.

Quinoa is family Chenopodiaceae, Genus Chenopodia, not sure the species name.

Beets and Swiss Chard are family Chenopodiaceae, Genus Beta, species vulgaris. These have several subspecies.


I actually think the Trinomial terminology is much better than the Binomial. Much more clear, but a bit more to remember. And yes, I am glad for the new genetic sequencing that clears up relationships much better. So long as they don't take it to the next step of GMO's. This world needs better solutions than that. Like birth control to reduce starvation. Otherwise, it becomes a never ending cycle of impossibility. I digress...

 

[hoodat]

I am warning you- if you don't want it growing all over your property for many years to come, do not leave those seed heads standing!! I fell in love with amaranth a few years ago. I can't keep up with up now. I was good about pulling the big ones out- now I see tiny plants, no bigger than 3 inches going right to seed. I fear I will not win this battle! Amaranth makes mint look meek! Happy Gardening!

Buy some rabbits. They'll be happy to eat what you don't need. You could also throw up a temporary fence where they are coming up thick and plunk a couple of chickens in there. They'll clear out the plants and a lot of the seeds in no time.

 

[lesa]

You are right, Hoodat- the chickens do eat it... but, I still have to pull it up and keep ahead of it! It is now even coming up in my lawn area!

 

[baymule]

Can livestock graze on amaranth? If it is all that invasive, then it might be a good thing!

 

[plainolebill]

We aren't going to let it go to seed, my wife grows Magenta Spreen Lambsquarter and they will cross. Pigweed, well we've got lots of that.

 

[Mackay]

Buy some rabbits. They'll be happy to eat what you don't need. You could also throw up a temporary fence where they are coming up thick and plunk a couple of chickens in there. They'll clear out the plants and a lot of the seeds in no time.

Will chickens eat lambs quarters too?