|
Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 30, 2022 20:03:36 GMT -6
Those plants are beautiful, macmex. The turnips greens had a mixed reception. I could have done a better job cooking them, and my six year old and I thoroughly enjoyed them as they were, but others were less keen. I harvested amaranth today because it was mostly beginning to bolt, and I didn’t want it to reseed where it was. I put the leaves in the freezer for my husband to add to his leftovers at lunchtime as he sees fit. He’s quite fond of the amaranth, so it’s good for him to have. I cut some plants entirely but I left a few to keep growing. I put beet green transplants in a corner of the bed where Red Noodle Beans hadn’t come up.
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Sept 4, 2022 5:17:35 GMT -6
When I've harvested it I generally harvest the top growing tip, tender stem and leaves, and we cook that. I will cut some individual leaves but I find that laborious. I'll do it but the really good times are while the plants have yet to bolt.
I generally let mine drop seed here I grow it, finding it easier to transplant little seedlings, come spring, than to sow them anew. This is how my Mexican friends did it. I have to admit, that this practice does "reconfigure" my garden, though. One has to be a little more inclined to flex on garden design. I've carried this practice over with lambs quarters. In fact what I usually do is see where they come up thickest and then draw an imaginary line around them, telling myself, "Well, that's my lambs quarters patch for this year."
|
|
|
Post by amyinowasso on Sept 16, 2022 10:11:29 GMT -6
I've grown amaranth a few times. I keep buying different varieties hoping for good tasting leaves. I attempted to save the seeds for eating once. They molded. That was called Golden Giant and had a pretty gold flower. I grew some burgandy in a flower garden. When I cleaned up, I threw the whole stalk in the chicken pen. Enough seeds volunteered and survived the chickens to make a little grove in the pen the next year. Bottom leaves were eaten and the hens would jump trying to reach the next level. It gave them some shade and some camouflage from above. There is a Caribbean dish called callaloo you might look into. Also an Indian dish called saag. I have a lot of seeds, I wonder how long they're viable? Maybe next year should be amaranth trials. It's a versatile plant chrysanthemum, I'm glad you are finding it useful.
|
|
|
Post by Tucson Grower on Nov 22, 2022 7:19:19 GMT -6
Here in the Picture Rocks area of Tucson, whenever we have a good bit of Summer rain, we get a major crop of Amaranth weeds. Unfortunately it is host to flea beetles and many other insect pests, which, except for the flea beetles only seem interested in the Amaranth. I have tested out a few young leaves, raw. They weren't bad, but still nothing memorable (in any good way). This thread is tempting me to try growing, at least, some A. tricolor to see if that might work out somewhat better. As fast as it grows here in summer heat, with moisture, I'd guess, more should be planted, every week or two, through the summer, and kept moist.
There are many seed hiding in the ground on our property, though it mostly depends on how much rain we get, and when. Once in these past 23 years, when it rained early in winter and kept on raining until spring we had many local wildflowers grow and bloom, which I'd never seen before or since. I was especially surprised to see a patch of Coulter's Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus) -- though most of the patch on our property were a mutation, having flowers without petals. Apparently many wildflower seed can persist for incredibly long periods of time and in extremely seed-hostile environments.
Water lines are burried, around here, about 2 feet down. And, in summer, warm to hot water comes right out of the cold water line. Besides our water supplier's holding tank is above ground - our aquafer is 300 feet down or deeper. So, those seed ignore hot or cold dry ground, hot wet ground, but respond to extended periods of cold wet ground, to germinate and grow. Other weeds, such as wild mustard (an invasive species) is also common, but it only grows when cool winters get enough moisture. The wild amaranth and jimson weed only sprout with summer rains.
|
|
|
Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 28, 2023 17:48:08 GMT -6
I did not plant of crop of amaranth this spring since I figured I would wait until my lettuce bed was empty. Now that the Seminole Pumpkin is invading that bed, I’m not sure whether I will plant any there either. In the meantime, however, one amaranth plant volunteered over near my rhubarb. I had a number of plants in that one area, so I didn’t want to let the amaranth grow there. I transplanted it to this pot, and it did not handle the transplanting well. It pretty much completely died, except that it obviously didn’t. I pruned the obviously dead parts but left the main stalk, and just look at how it has revived and flourished. I’m pretty impressed.
|
|
|
Post by woodeye on Jun 29, 2023 5:02:48 GMT -6
Looks great, chrysanthemum. I've noticed that you are quite handy with shears and always have excellent results from your clipping forays in the garden.
It appears that in reality you must be a barber with 2 green thumbs. Good job!
|
|
|
Post by amyinowasso on Jun 29, 2023 7:42:15 GMT -6
Amaranth is a hardy species.
|
|