We had a storm blow through last night that brought thunder, lightning, wind and hail and rain. Thankfully the hail didn't make it to my house, but the wind definitely did some damage. I was just thinking that it was time to harvest the amaranth. Guess I don't have a choice now. Amaranth after the storm ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) Broken Amaranth ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) More Wind Damage ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) Fallen Sunflower ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) The roots were pushed right out of the ground ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) Even the tomatoes were affected by the wind. The cage is tilting sideways. ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden ) Wind blown borage ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )
Oh, thats a bummer. Can you stand the sunflowers back up? and stake them? I would think they would survive that, but do it as soon as you can today. Tell us about amaranth. I have never grown it nor knew anybody who grew it to harvest. What do you do with it?
Carolyn, I've grown Orange Giant Amaranth for the past two years. I tried it because it is one of the grains that grows well in Florida and it is supposed to be full of good things for you. We're half-heartedly trying to be on a health kick around my house and I thought this would be a good addition to the menu. However, last year when I harvested it I realized just how difficult that task is. You have to thresh it get the chaff out. Oh my, that was a chore. I grew it again because I thought I would try a different method of harvesting this year. Mostly though I grew it simply because I think it is a beautiful plant. The orange spiers tower above the other plants in the garden and are definitely a conversation starter to anyone visiting the garden.
Carolyn, I guess I failed to tell you what we did with the amaranth last year. We boiled it for about twenty minutes. It kind of reminded me of a bowl of cream of wheat. The taste was surprisingly like corn. It wasn't bad, but not something I would want all of the time. We also "popped" some in a pan. It actually pops like popcorn. That made a real mess, but it was good. I'd like to grind it and see what can be done with the flour.
So I have googled this plant and noticed that you could do something with the seeds before. My hubby reminded me that we had Maranth flour to make bread many many years ago. So how do you take the shells off the seeds? I used to shell parakeet seeds, mostly millet, by pulsing them in my old blender. Then you can blow the shells of cause they are lighter.
I grew amaranth last year just for the beauty of the plant. It was very pretty, but got way to big for my gardens.
Oh that was a devastating wind,..sorry to see your plants blown over like that,..only a gardener would fully understand how badly you feel.
Barb, I tried the old timey method of tossing the seeds into the air and allowing the wind to carry the chaff away. It worked, but it was so time consuming and I lost a lot of the grain. Then, I attempted blowing it while the grain rested in a bowl. Not so effective. I've read that a hand held flour sifter works well. I'll be giving that a try.
