quinoa spaciing

I have just sprouted some quinoa seeds and this year will just be my experiment, not sure how many per square feet.

Interesting project. I am very intrigued for my own family, we love eating quinoa.
I found this link http://www.gardeningblog.net/how-to-grow/quinoa/ Read the comments there is some good info there!

So she is saying 10-14" apart. I am thinking that means try 2/sq in a staggered fashion. But maybe it will mean 1/sq. Let us know how this progresses!

I wish I had just a little more space in the garden to try this. Maybe a pot.
This is why I am loving this website. SO many horizon broadening ideas

all of my spinach has gone to seed and so I am putting this in place of spinach, will add some compost and then plant.

I WILL keep you posted

first year for us to try and grow some too we are using a container....it only took two days to sprout we jusst sprinkled some around on the top with a very little cover....we will thin when needed....

hugs

rose

Wow, never even thought of growing this, I love quinoa, keep us posted I will deffinatly have to try next year!

That is such a good idea. We love quinoa. I never thought of growing it...thought it came in a box. lol

O, I just found out that orach is related to quinoa. That grows feral all over my garden. I wonder if I could hull the seeds of orach....

I sprouted them on wet paper towels and they are just the cutest sproutlings of all...
They are pink and curley....

How are peoples quinoa plantings going? I had a lot sprout but never get past the cute curly stage. I ended up with 5 tiny plants that have now managed 4 leaves. So I just put them in the garden. They are so small I put yogurt cup collars around the plants so I would not over look them. Those are carrot week carrots next to them.


Here is a single plant.

ours are doing pretty good

we have kept them in our green house for the heat....







hugs

rose

O wow! They really do look like lambs quarter.

here is how our quinoa did this year

here they are on 6-19-12...they sprouted fast



here on 6-24-12



here on 7-25-12



here on 8-28-12



here on 9-4-12...they were getting top heavy so we supported them with a trellis that we were using for our cantalopes...



this is how the grain looked after we cut it 10-1-12 from the stalks....not sure how to dry it or when we can eat them



next year we are going to grow it outside the green house and see how it goes....we found they got tall and top heavy...wondering if we planted them a little closer and more to the group they they would have stronger stalks....

hugs
rose.....will let you know if or when we eat them

Wonderful pictures! I am so glad you got yours to bloom. I am a bit jealous

I planted mine 1/sq. They grew tall and stocky, lots of side branches all ending in plumes of flower buds. I did end up putting a tomato cage around them though. The stalks seem brittle. We had a pretty hard frost a couple weeks ago that did in the buds but the plants were ok. I was hoping the flowers would make a come back, and they did, but not fast enough. If I try it again I will start them with the tomatoes and then set out a bit earlier. They seem to need a long season to get to ripe seed.

FamilyGardening wrote:here is how our quinoa did this year

here they are on 6-19-12...they sprouted fast



here on 6-24-12



here on 7-25-12



here on 8-28-12



here on 9-4-12...they were getting top heavy so we supported them with a trellis that we were using for our cantalopes...



this is how the grain looked after we cut it 10-1-12 from the stalks....not sure how to dry it or when we can eat them



next year we are going to grow it outside the green house and see how it goes....we found they got tall and top heavy...wondering if we planted them a little closer and more to the group they they would have stronger stalks....

hugs
rose.....will let you know if or when we eat them

Did you ever find out how to get this to the eating stage?? I just spent too much for another bag of organic quinoa....

we havent had any to eat yet....may have to do that soon to make sure we like the taste of what we planted because we are keeping it for seed for this year....

here is a good read on how to harvest quinoa

http://www.ehow.com/how_7357905_harvest-quinoa.html

we cut ours and let it dry out for a few weeks inside....then all i had to do is tap the stem and the seeds fell right off....you do have to pick out some of other dry stuff....we left a lot of the seeds on the stem still....lazy me ...i should get to work and get those seeds....and eat some....i will let you know how it goes and see how many seeds we get from the few plants we had....

it was easy to grow....it sprouted very fast.....it did need some support as it grew ....we grew in the green house....but his year we are going to try it out side of the green house and see how it does.....

happy gardening
rose

wow this is great ROSE, I started mine, but did not follow through. I will be starting many more this year. I really need to learn to focus my attention in a variety of directions, instead of just on tomatoes.
Your quinoia looks beautiful, thanks for the pictures.
I have mine lined up in my seed box ready to plant... and care for this year. I also have rye growing, which is a great way to learn how to harvest grains.
Thanks ROSE
janet

Have you done the soaking wash off the bitter part yet? I am curious if that is easy to do actually. How much did you get for how many plants?

It is so pretty I am thinking of a row at the edge of the bed I am planting corn in. Last year I got it to almost flower before frost got it. So if I start it inside earlier it might make it. Territorial is offering seed this year, but I had good enough luck with what i sprinkled from the bag from the store.

found some more info.....glad you asked about soaking and washing off the bitter part....i had no idea....

http://www.saltspringseeds.com/scoop/powerfood.htm

Threshing. Unlike beans or true grains, quinoa and amaranth have no hulls to remove. However, quinoa is covered with a bitter substance called saponin, which birds and deer won't touch. Because of this coating, quinoa requires thorough rinsing before cooking. One method is to put the grain in a blender with cool water at lowest speed, changing the water until it is no longer soapy. It takes about five water changes to achieve the desired, non-frothy result. Another way is to tie the desired amount of quinoa in a stocking, a loose weave muslin bag, or a pillowcase and to run it through a cold water cycle of an automatic washing machine. You can also get away with less or no rinsing by mixing quinoa with other grains or pulses, rendering the saponin hardly noticeable.

Yields. An ounce or two of seed per plant is common but you can easily get over six ounces per plant grown in your best compost.

more info at link above

happy gardening
rose

If it goes above 90 degrees and your soil doesn't contain 50 percent manure, you may want to reconsider growing quinoa according to this article. Yet a different article says it does grow in poor soil. :scratch: ??
http://www.ehow.com/how_7639221_plant-quinoa.html

I was getting all excited about trying to grow some myself. Then I read the comment about above 90 degrees.... I guess I will have to try next year since it will be 90 degrees here in no time.

I am adding this to my wish list

I would like to hear more about the Rye, I am trying to become a better bread maker so grains are of interest.

Oh and good morning

Dreaming of Green wrote:I would like to hear more about the Rye, I am trying to become a better bread maker so grains are of interest.

Oh and good morning

Good morning to you too! I'm also on a mission to be a better bread maker.

Bountiful Gardens website/catalog sells grains and has books/pamphlets available for purchase that talk about how to grow and harvest them on a home garden scale. In the above link, I sent you right to the page of books about grains.

I know all about rye, I could write a book on what can go wrong with it
I used it as a cover crop last fall, over a large area that had been interupted with they put in my geothermal heating system. The soil was extremely poor, but I sprinkled the rye around in November.
(this would make it fall rye) In the spring it came up extremely lovely, looked very healthy and so I thought I was going to get a great harvest.


Then as we were harvesting I noticed these little purple things that are very cute... but turns out are ERGOT.... WHich it turns out is a fungus that has LSD Like properties and can cause hallucinations and seizures and even death. Apparently Ergot is what likely the witches in the middle ages were eating which made them crazy..... needless to say we burned our crop.


I DID find out that likely the reason this happened is that I planted too late in the fall, and they did not have a chance to root then, and the fungus sets in. This year they planted themselves and there was a great start of a crop before the winter set in... so keeping fingers crossed

Gwennifer, Thanks for the info and links. Here's to better breads!

GWN,
Wow, so much for the great harvest, at least this year sounds like it will be much better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

we kept our Quinoa in our small green house thinking it needed the heat ....LOL......we dont know much do we ....it got over 120 in there on the hot days of summer....poor things no wonder they started to look tired....

happy gardening
rose