Amaranthaceae · in the live register
Cricket Amaranth
Amaranthus cruentus. Selected from a 1940s county-fair strain kept by the Oduya family.
- Days
- 90 days to grain
- Habit
- 5 to 6 ft
- Light
- Full sun
- Sowing
- Direct after frost
Grows like a rumor and grains like a promise. The young leaves go in the pan; the seed heads go to the birds, or to next year's jars.
From the grower's notes
“Don't baby it. Give it ordinary ground, keep the row marked, and write down what you did. Next year's borrower will be reading your note, not ours.”
The packet carries a pinch of seed and a copy of these notes. Sowing depth, spacing and the season's quirks are penciled on the back by whoever last returned it.
Borrowed alongside
What gardeners most often carry out of the library in the same tote.
The strain that started this library. Stringless, early, and generous enough that we measure the...
A small amber pear that laughs at cold nights. We keep it for the sauce that gets us to March, a...
Dark enough that frost makes it look lit from inside. Cut it and it comes back three times; the ...