Sometimes ideas creep up on you: very, very slowly. I can’t recall just what exactly posessed me, years ago, to order seed of ‘leaf amaranth’. I must have read about it somewhere, thought its spectacular feathery plumes worth a trial and the rest, as they say, is history – as once you grow leaf amaranth, you have leaf amaranth – forever more!
Now although it’s edible, for ages I cursed it as a weed, as it comes up everywhere. And I mean everywhere. But I guess it just depends upon your view of weeds. In this instance anyway, I’ve changed my mind. For some years, I’ve concluded that I generally ‘forage’ for amaranth, in that I only weed it out when it’s at the perfect size to eat in a salad, or to use as a micro-green – scattered over fish, chicken, eggs…..the list is endless really. It’s leaves are so attractive, particularly the underneath when small, are a deep purply-red.
For a long time, I thought the flower plumes were full of seed when they were past their best (hence often picking them thinking I was ahead of the game as far as spilling the greatest quantity of seed was concerned!). It’s only relatively recently I’ve discovered they are bursting with ripe seed when they’re in full and magnificent flight! So I’ve decided to try & gain some control, and grow it where I want and to the size I want it. Those of you who are regulars to these posts know by now, that if I can get away with a shortcut when it comes to propagating, I’m inclined to take the cheat’s path! So recently, I’ve taken to laying sections of amaranth flower on prepared soil, in anticipation of a carpet of micro greens.
And the method has worked a treat!
A thick and colourful mound of baby amaranth leaves await!
I’m going through the last of the season’s tall plumes quite quickly now, in flower arrangements for each week’s event. (I’m working my way through the ones that seeded themselves along the Kitchen Garden path!). Hopefully I’ll be able to eek out the last for Harriet Goodall’s Weaving Workshop & India Flint’s day of Botanical Alchemy. I’m not sure if the last ‘laying down’ will work – it may be too late in the season, but we’ll see! In the meantime, anyone visiting is very welcome to take apart my flower arrangement at the end of the day and try an experiment of their own: I’ve bagged a few heads for participants these last weeks and look forward to hearing their progress!