How to Grow Amaranth Greens in Florida

We all can agree that growing greens in Florida’s summer is no easy feat. Last year I tried growing baby bok choy in the shade, as well as trying different forage type greens, such as sweet potato leaves and cow pea leaves in my salads. While they worked OK, something was still missing. And that something was in a realm of a regular salad type green. So, this year I am trying something different.

Enter a new type of leafy vegetable: Amaranth Green.

I ordered the seeds from Bountiful Gardens because they offer all open-pollinated, non-GMO, heirloom seeds. The description for the amaranth, that is leaf amaranth, not the grain type, was that it loves heat and loves moisture. OK, heat is no problem in June and beyond, and moisture I can reasonably provide. Granted, we had a lot of rain lately, so moisture was supplied by nature.

True to the seed company promise, amaranth survived and is doing quite well. I only planted a few plants, but have been snipping the leaves for the salad for about two months now. Lately we have been suffering some excruciating temperatures, but amaranth stood to the challenge.

Amaranth Greens

The only problem with it is that it is quite difficult to start from seed. As usual, I start my seeds in nursery containers, and noticed that with this plant it is not easy when it comes to to achieving good consistent germination. The seedlings themselves look (and behave) quite weak for a few weeks, but when transplanted to the garden they do take off strong. I also tried to seed amaranth greens directly into the soil, but cannot attest to the success of that method because I mixed up replanting of the transplants and direct seed in the same bed. I think it would be better still to start it in nursery containers. All in all, it is a worthy green to try. It is somewhat dry and tough, compared, let’s say to romaine lettuce, but as we know, everything dies in our gardens in the summer, so a plant that keeps providing a harvest during the hot days is a winner no matter what. It tastes kind of like spinach, not a very strong taste, which is a good thing. I usually just chop it up in fine strips and make it a base for my salad. My verdict – thumbs up for that unusual vegetable, leaf amaranth green.

You can grow greens indoors in the summer. Click the image to learn more...

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How to harvest amaranth

The time has passed and amaranth tassels have grown large and bountiful, and started to show some signs of ripening. Ripened amaranth seeds would be seen on the tassells as minuscule whitish seeds, as well as the tassells themselveses would start to yellow and a bit dry:

Now simply break the tassles off the plant and collect them in some large container. Ideally, you would hang them in a dry place, like a garage, over some clean sheets of plastic to let the seeds fall on the plastic. I do not have such luxury as the garage is full of other "necessary" things, so I simply put my amaranth into a garden wheelbarrow. They will dry in there just fine because the wheelbarrow sits in the lanai, so it is out of the rain.

Now, we have to clean the tassles off the remaining leaves and stems and fluff it up every day to allow drying thoroughly and evenly. The process of drying will take approximately three weeks, or when most of the seeds fall of the stems.

Amaranth

This year I tried planting amaranth for the first time.

Germination is pretty good, however seedlings are tiny and somewhat weak for about three weeks. I seed in a nursery container and then replant into individual Styrofoam cups. When seedlings are about three inches tall I plant them into the garden.

Amaranth grows tall, mine grew to about eight feet tall. Very pretty flowers. Not susceptible to bugs, maybe just a little damage to the leaves. Otherwise pretty hardy vegetable. The only problem is that after the heavy rain stalks fall to the ground under their weight. I did not want to stake each individual plant, so I just let them be.

The reason for planting amaranth is that I wanted to try growing a no-glutein grain. Amaranth seeds are high in calcium, magnesium, iron and of the amino acid Lysine. Also high in potassium, zinc, Vitamin B and E and can contain over 20% protein. Leaves are edible too and resemble the taste of spinach. Leaves could be eaten raw or cooked, just like spinach.