Amazing Amaranth

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Amaranth thrives in warm weather, but it is a versatile crop that grows well even in regions with shorter growing seasons, including Canada and Maine. Once soils have warmed up in the spring, around the time to sow corn, start by preparing a fine seedbed to accommodate the tiny seeds. A hundred square feet or so should yield a few pounds of seed, enough for a winter’s worth of cooking. While amaranth will tolerate almost any soil, yields increase with additions of compost or well-rotted manure. Plant one or two seeds per inch, one-fourth to one-half inch deep, in rows 12 to 16 inches apart. Row spacing can vary depending on the system and equipment you use. Keep the seedbed moist, but not soaked, through germination. A thin mulch will help retain moisture while allowing the plants to emerge. If you apply a thicker mulch once the stand is established, you shouldn’t need to water at all unless you experience severe drought conditions. For earlier or larger harvests, you can sow indoors four to six weeks before transplanting into the garden. Keep moist until the plants are established

Thin young plants for salad greens and thin larger plants for cooking. You should end up with about one plant per square foot for a grain crop. Even if you don’t thin them at all, the plants seem to take care of it by themselves. Weed control is important for the first few weeks as amaranth is a slow starter, but once it gets going, it will out-compete most weeds

By midsummer, your plants should be anywhere from 2 to 4 feet tall, depending on the variety. As the seed heads form, the plants will develop a stunning display that will last until frost. You can thin again at this point, cutting the colorful, smaller heads or side shoots to add to bouquets.

Gather your Grain

Here in Maine, I generally wait until after the first frost when most of the seed is mature and the plants begin to die back. I then cut the heads and lay them on a tarp or sheet to dry, which sometimes involves bringing them inside before it rains. You also can hang them upside down over a tarp. Either way, seeds will continue to mature until dry. Some folks like to strip all the heads from the stems and thresh the seeds before the crop dries to avoid dealing with the bulkiness and prickly nature of dried plants. If done this way, the crop will require less space for drying. This also eliminates the first step of threshing the seed — crushing and removing the larger dried plant material.

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