Picco
Sprout
I love this stuff and would love to grow it. The plants look beautiful, does anyone have any experience with it?
Quinoa
- Thread starter Picco
- Start date
I don't even know what that is! Google will tell me though. 
digitS'
Garden Master
I've grown ornamental amaranth and continue to grow orach in the garden every year. That isn't grain amaranth and quinoa, however. I can also say that I enjoy a pot of redroot pigweed or lambs quarters with the "best of 'em." Good stuff!!
What are you thinking of Picco - amaranth & quinoa grain for yourself or as food for the livestock?
Steve
What are you thinking of Picco - amaranth & quinoa grain for yourself or as food for the livestock?
Steve
- Thread starter
- #4
Picco
Sprout
Quinoa (keen'wa in Quechua or keen-o-ah in Spanish) is a plant that comes from the South American Andes and is grown for both its seeds and its leaves. You can buy the seeds in the grocery store and cook them like rice. Its one of the few complete proteins from a vegetable source. I have a few recipes I use with this, one is a soup and its delicious. The pictures of the plants look great and I would love to grow it. I'm ordering it from the wild seeds catalog.
digitS'
Garden Master
Well, Picco, I hope you didn't take offense with me asking about the possibilities of using it for livestock. Since so many folks are coming here from the BackYardChickens forum, I'm hoping to explore "chicken gardens" and growing things for the hens.
There are still lots of foods from around the world that I haven't tried and lots that are being grown for poultry that my hens might enjoy. I just learned a little more about Chia the last couple of days. Yeah chia, you know - the stuff you can grow on pottery so you can have a "chia pet!"
I had some info that it was edible but didn't know that the seeds are really quite nutritious and there doesn't seem to be any drawbacks in growing the stuff for your poultry . . . that I've found so far, anyway. And remarkably, it's a SALVIA! Did other gardeners know that? Cousin to the plants growing in our flower beds in the front yard! Gets up to 3 feet tall and you don't really need to grow it on something that's suppose to look like Elvis.
Speaking of families, Wikipedia tells me that orach, which I have in the garden every year and really love
is in the Family: Amaranthaceae, Subfamily: Chenopodioideae Genus: Atriplex Species: hortensis
(Quinoa is Family: Amaranthaceae Subfamily: Chenopodioideae Genus: Chenopodium Species: quinoa.
If you don't have orach growing and reseeding itself in your garden - you are missing a very early, tender salad green. It's the earliest green in my garden. But, I shouldn't really call it a green since it's purple. Very similar to spinach - which is also in the Family: Amaranthaceae.
All these possibilities for garden plants, I really find quite exciting
Steve
There are still lots of foods from around the world that I haven't tried and lots that are being grown for poultry that my hens might enjoy. I just learned a little more about Chia the last couple of days. Yeah chia, you know - the stuff you can grow on pottery so you can have a "chia pet!"
I had some info that it was edible but didn't know that the seeds are really quite nutritious and there doesn't seem to be any drawbacks in growing the stuff for your poultry . . . that I've found so far, anyway. And remarkably, it's a SALVIA! Did other gardeners know that? Cousin to the plants growing in our flower beds in the front yard! Gets up to 3 feet tall and you don't really need to grow it on something that's suppose to look like Elvis.
Speaking of families, Wikipedia tells me that orach, which I have in the garden every year and really love
is in the Family: Amaranthaceae, Subfamily: Chenopodioideae Genus: Atriplex Species: hortensis(Quinoa is Family: Amaranthaceae Subfamily: Chenopodioideae Genus: Chenopodium Species: quinoa.
If you don't have orach growing and reseeding itself in your garden - you are missing a very early, tender salad green. It's the earliest green in my garden. But, I shouldn't really call it a green since it's purple. Very similar to spinach - which is also in the Family: Amaranthaceae.
All these possibilities for garden plants, I really find quite exciting
Steve
- Thread starter
- #6
Picco
Sprout
The chenopodium family is huge and has several domesticated and wild species. Tell me more about orach, the place where I'm getting my amaranth and quinoa from has it too.
http://www.wildgardenseed.com/
I don't think quinoa would make a good food for chickens, its covered with a chemical called saponin that is supposed to be a bird repellent. Its not poisonous, just bitter tasting so you'd have to wash it before you gave it to them. Before I eat quinoa I rinse it about ten times with warm water and stir it vigorously. Its a lot of work but its good stuff.
http://www.wildgardenseed.com/
I don't think quinoa would make a good food for chickens, its covered with a chemical called saponin that is supposed to be a bird repellent. Its not poisonous, just bitter tasting so you'd have to wash it before you gave it to them. Before I eat quinoa I rinse it about ten times with warm water and stir it vigorously. Its a lot of work but its good stuff.
digitS'
Garden Master
One mother plant will reseed like crazy. Orach is out there in the early Spring before I get there!!
It's a good idea to save some seed and sow a row or 2 here and there for a little later in the season. You can move the little plants around where you want 'em.
Or, they'll find out-of-the-way spots on their own. Orach can be a little invasive, I suppose, but they are annuals and not difficult to get rid of. Enjoy them steamed or stir-fried but, really, orach is just fine uncooked about this stage or a little larger.
It's a good idea to save some seed and sow a row or 2 here and there for a little later in the season. You can move the little plants around where you want 'em.
Or, they'll find out-of-the-way spots on their own. Orach can be a little invasive, I suppose, but they are annuals and not difficult to get rid of. Enjoy them steamed or stir-fried but, really, orach is just fine uncooked about this stage or a little larger.
Hencackle
Garden Ornament
Picco--thanks for posting that link!
digitS'--can you describe the taste of orach? Do chickens like it as well? Regarding pigweed, at what stage do you harvest it? Is it mild tasting? That stuff grows too well in my garden.
digitS'--can you describe the taste of orach? Do chickens like it as well? Regarding pigweed, at what stage do you harvest it? Is it mild tasting? That stuff grows too well in my garden.
digitS'
Garden Master
Orach is similar to spinach - very nearly as tender and just a surprisingly nice veggie. Lambs quarters is a related weed but quite a bit tougher.
Orach can, however, get stemmy fairly quickly and doesn't develop a very large rosette of leaves. That means you need to sit down on your garden stool and pick it when it's quite small. If it's the volunteers, they will really need to be thinned hard! If you are doing any transplanting, you'll need to be in there with your spoon or popsicle stick or whatever you use and move 'em early.
And, early can be a problem. They literally show up before I do in the Spring. It must take very little heat to start 'em growing. That means you can start your harvesting before you are even thinking about such activities . . . and before there's anything to go with 'em. Which is a little sad in the salad department.
You know, I've always messed up with remembering that spinach will overwinter.
Never have I gotten spinach seed in the ground during September (I guess it would be) so that I could have an early harvest. Since orach self-seeds so enthusiastically and tastes so much like spinach - it saves me from my failings, somewhat. 
Pigweed is a little tricky to harvest at a good stage - like dandelions that way. No flower, tho' . . . if there's a hint of bolting, you've waited too long. The best weed will be in good soil, of course. You know, absolutely where you don't want it!! So, does that mean you've got to tolerate a weed where you don't want it to grow just so you can harvest a pot of greens?? 
Well, maybe.
What I like to do is find it outside the garden. The neighbor beside my smaller veggie garden lets lots and LOTS of weeds grow. :/ If they've gotten sufficient rain, there's usually a batch over there where I can almost stand on my side of the line and pull enuf pigweed on his side to fill a bag. Then hide any evidence of my trespass and head for the kitchen!!
Steve
Orach can, however, get stemmy fairly quickly and doesn't develop a very large rosette of leaves. That means you need to sit down on your garden stool and pick it when it's quite small. If it's the volunteers, they will really need to be thinned hard! If you are doing any transplanting, you'll need to be in there with your spoon or popsicle stick or whatever you use and move 'em early.
And, early can be a problem. They literally show up before I do in the Spring. It must take very little heat to start 'em growing. That means you can start your harvesting before you are even thinking about such activities . . . and before there's anything to go with 'em. Which is a little sad in the salad department.
You know, I've always messed up with remembering that spinach will overwinter.
Never have I gotten spinach seed in the ground during September (I guess it would be) so that I could have an early harvest. Since orach self-seeds so enthusiastically and tastes so much like spinach - it saves me from my failings, somewhat. Pigweed is a little tricky to harvest at a good stage - like dandelions that way. No flower, tho' . . . if there's a hint of bolting, you've waited too long. The best weed will be in good soil, of course.
You know, absolutely where you don't want it!! So, does that mean you've got to tolerate a weed where you don't want it to grow just so you can harvest a pot of greens?? Well, maybe.What I like to do is find it outside the garden. The neighbor beside my smaller veggie garden lets lots and LOTS of weeds grow. :/ If they've gotten sufficient rain, there's usually a batch over there where I can almost stand on my side of the line and pull enuf pigweed on his side to fill a bag. Then hide any evidence of my trespass and head for the kitchen!!
Steve
Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
I got quinoa last year and didn't have time to plant it. Considering how my veggie garden is sited, I'm going to have a hard time finding a spot dry enough for it. It may well have to go in a spot usually reserved for ornamentals, near the concrete pad of the woodshed, and in a raised bed at that. The instructions on the packet say it's supposed to get only 10-12 inches of precipitation/year and it needs 100-130 days to mature. I can manage 100+ days, I have lots of sheltered spots near retaining walls and sheds and stuff, but we get at least 10-12" of precipitation in a single late spring month. I'm thinking I'm going to have to make this raised bed out of sand and gravel or something.
