We just moved into a house with a large garden. Most of it has majorly gone to weeds, but some perennials are thriving. I found these when I was weeding. My realtor said they were potatoes (but she also told me bracken fern was sword fern, and thistles were nettles!), so I kept them. Are they something good, or shall I weed them too??
Here's another pic:
definitely not potatoes, although i'm not sure what it is...
Yeah, unfortunately I take what my realtor said with a grain of salt. We did find potatoes elsewhere in the garden though. :)
Looks like Amaranth
http://chetday.com/amaranth.html
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/amaranth.html
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC3458.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic_gardening/2005_April_May/Amazing_Amaranth
There many variations, some of which are considered weeds.
If you like it, then it's not a weed -- it's a volunteer! :-) I think amaranths can be major self-seeders, though, so you might want to deadhead if you keep them.
Congratulations on your new home! How exciting!!
Wow, interesting! I've never heard of amaranth until now. Since it's one of the four potentially useful "crops" currently in my garden, I'll certainly keep them and see how it goes. Sounds like there are lots of uses-- my husband will be very excited if we are able to pop it like popcorn! Thanks a lot for the ID and the links, Farmerdill!
Critterologist, we're absolutely LOVING our new house! We feel like we're at a bed and breakfast, but we live here-- it's such a treat. And fun discovering all these interesting plants around here. This is one of many. :)
--Dana
Amaranth is a very nutritious greens. We love to cook them like chards or mustard green.
Follow-up question: are the leaves of amaranth supposed to be thick and tough? They had been compared to spinach above, but at least the texture is not at all similar. I'd like to know for sure before I start eating them and find out it's not really amaranth...
Extra note: There are also some volunteers in the chicken coop, along with sunflowers and tomatoes, and maybe even potatoes! I'm sure that whatever I don't transplant will be plowed down by the chickens in no time once they graduate to the coop. :)
The leaves do appear thicker and tougher than spinach, but they cook fast and become tender. Don't overcook. Leaves can be frozen.
The following is from the seed packaging for 'Red Leaf' Amaranth. Red leaf is prettier than the all-green kind, but the taste is the same.
Foliage--harvest leaf by leaf when plant is greater than 4" tall. You can also wait until plant is mature--b/t 7 and 9 weeks--and harvest the whole plant; the iron content of the plant doubles b/t the 7th and 9th week. Plant will regrow cut foliage. Foliage is high in vitamin A, C, iron, calcium, and protein.
Grain--wait until seeds are mature and dry. Pull up plant and hang upside down in a warm, dry place; when completely dry, shake seed heads into paper bag. Seeds should be stored in an airtight container until they can be ground into a flour. The grain contains lysine, an amino acid NOT in other grains. Its combination with other grains makes it a fairly complete protein.
Okay, thank you! I wanted to make sure before I dig in. :) That information is very helpful.
Thanks,
Dana
Dana, where did you move to Olympia from, I have lived here east of the Cascades all my long life. My youngest son lives just north of Sumner. I am planning to go over to their place for a couple of days the middle of the month. I am planning on him taking me to see Pixydish's pond on her open pond day the 14th.
As someone else said you might believe your realtor on houses, but i sure wouldn't believe anything he/she told me about plant life. DonnaS
Why can't they just say "I don't know ?"
Donna, we moved to Olympia from Lacey-- just six miles away, but a world of difference to us! Originally we're both from Gig Harbor.
Come to find out, our realtor even lied to us about houses! We had seven offers on our old house, and there was one she wanted us to pick. She lied to us so we'd pick that offer. We're SOOOO mad about it now! I suspected it at the time, but my husband made the final decision. We took everything she said with a grain of salt, maybe less. I think she feels like she has something to prove, because she had to butt in all the time telling us things (that were wrong, like all the plants she identified for us!) that we didn't want/need her opinion on. Whew! Well I guess I vented for a bit there, but we really had a bad experience with her this time. Yes, I wish she would have just admitted it was a mystery!
I think FarmerDill is right on target. I could be wrong, but your photo looks a lot like Pigweed to me. It is also called Green Amaranth, Redroot Amaranth, Wild Beet (Amaranthus retroflexus var. salicifolius). We consider it a noxious weed here in the Midwest.
One person's weed is another's veggie though, right? I find it a great weed/plant/veggie to leave in the garden as a trap crop for flea beetles. They chew it up and leave my other plants alone. I never let it go to seed though. At least not on purpose.
Here's a Dave's Garden Plant DB link: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/60194/
One year the hay I bought for my horses had this plant (redroot pigweed) mixed into about 1/2 the bales. Once dried, the seedheads became spiny and would sting if you touched it. Oh, did I mumble and curse the guy that sold the hay that winter everytime I fed the horses, because I had to pick through each hay flake and remove it. Now when I see it volunteering in the garden (yes imported from the horse manure I'm sure) I pull it out before it can get too mature.
Looks like the Common Pigweed to me too...yep, the leaves are edible, but don't let it re-seed...it multiplies with abandon and will bully other plants unmercifully. I pull it out whenever I find it...and still have plenty if I want to cook some.
So if it's the common pigweed, can I still use the seeds if I pull the flower off and dry it? Or it sounds like maybe it's not worth the hassle?
Edited to say: I'm not sure they are the same. The leaves look a lot different to me. Mine has much thicker, "ripplier" leaves than in the pictures on PF for common pigweed...
This message was edited Aug 10, 2005 8:23 PM
One year I let a burdock plant flower and admired the purple flowers. It was striking! Then I had to chop it down before it could seed itself all over the place. Nothing wrong with growing your plant to see what it looks like. Also it will give you a better ID.
Yes, that's a good idea. I almost thought I saw a white flower on it, though, like a picture I saw in PF for common pigweed. I'll wait until there are more flowers to see for sure.
Looks like Everson pigweed to me and I know many weeds lol. Ernie
Yeah, I'm starting to give in to the probability that it is more of a weed than a crop! I was so excited, but I guess there are other things I'd rather have taking up the room in my garden... I'll have to get them before they go to seed.
