Amaranth "Krepysh"

Vegetable amaranth "Strong" - Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.
Healthy high-protein greens for salads and soups.
An early ripening variety (from germination to consumer ripeness 50-60 days) with a height of 120-140 cm, it is a source of easily digestible vegetable protein.
Densely leafy shoots are located throughout the stem of the plant. The leaves are green with red veins, the inflorescence is erect. Green yield up to 3 kg/m2.
Amaranth is demanding of heat and light, but is not picky about soil: it grows in any soil, including acidic, sandy, and saline. Easily adapts to various growing conditions. Tolerates autumn cold.
The variety is recommended for use as a salad crop and in cooking. Young, tender, juicy greens are used in salads and cooking, for making drinks. Flowering plants are dried and used in teas, as natural dyes, and food additives.

It is important to know that vegetable and grain plant varieties must have light-colored seeds. If you find dark seeds, it means the amaranth is decorative. This type of amaranth plants is not recommended for consumption.
Amaranth is a cross-pollinating plant. Both cultivated varieties and varietal varieties with wild and varietal species can be crossed with each other. (It is for this reason that amaranth should be grown from seeds purchased at a specialty store).

Sowing is carried out with seeds at the end of May when the soil warms up to +10+12 degrees. To get early greens and be guaranteed to provide yourself with seeds, it is better to grow in seedlings. To do this, seeds for seedlings are sown in the second half of April (about a month before planting in open ground).
To grow amaranth seedlings, the potting method is used. Seedlings are planted in a permanent place after the threat of frost. If they occur, the plants must be covered. It has been noticed that young plants easily tolerate replanting with damaged roots, but, naturally, it is better not to do this and replant seedlings with a clod of earth. For a family of 3-4 people, it is enough to grow 7-10 plants. Before sowing, apply garden mineral mixture (30 g per 1 m2) or complex fertilizers in accordance with the instructions for their use.
Attention! Amaranth intensively absorbs nitrogen compounds, which later turn into nitrates that are harmful to health. Therefore, you should not abuse mineral fertilizers.
Before sowing, level the soil surface. The seeding rate is 15 grams per hundred square meters, i.e. 100 grams of seeds is enough to sow 6 acres (seed germination rate is 85%.).
Sowing scheme: for greens - 20-25 cm between plants in a row, 60-70 cm between rows; for seeds - 50-60 cm and 60-70 cm, respectively. Planting depth is 1-1.5 cm. To distribute the seeds more evenly before sowing, they are mixed with sawdust or coarse river sand. After sowing, it is better to roll the soil. Shoots appear on 7-8 days.
Plants sown directly into the ground develop very slowly, so careful weeding is required in the first month. Subsequently, growth accelerates so that amaranth grows from 5 to 7 cm (!) per day and is capable of suppressing weeds around itself.
Watering is carried out regularly, especially after sowing and during the period of initial growth. As it develops, the roots go so deep into the soil that it practically does not need watering.
Fertilizing is carried out 3-4 times per season with a solution of mullein (1:5) and ash (diluted 200 g per 10 liters of water). The leaves begin to be eaten when they grow 15-20 cm. The time for harvesting is determined by the redness, drying and falling of the lower leaves and the change in color of the stem from green to light and whitish. In the fall, after the seeds have ripened, they are collected to prepare medicinal amaranth oil and obtain seed sprouts - healing living food.
Seeds remain viable for 5 years.

* Amaranth has antitumor properties, which is why it is called the miracle plant of the 21st century.
The history of amaranth is interesting and tragic. His image was a symbol of immortality, and in his homeland - in America, where for eight centuries before its conquest by Europeans, the Indians called it “the golden grain of God”, “Aztec wheat”, “Inca bread”. It was the basis of their plant diet after corn, and in terms of the totality of its nutritional and medicinal properties it was deservedly extolled much higher than any other food plant. However, some sacred Indian rituals using human figurines made from amaranth flour, honey and human sacrificial blood led to a ban on the cultivation of the “mystical grain of the Aztecs.” The ban came from the Spanish conquistadors and was supported by the Catholic Church. “The Devil’s Plant,” as the Spaniards called it, was banned in Europe for several centuries on pain of death and forgotten in America itself. Huautli (another of its names) was destroyed everywhere and only the Indians who lived in the inaccessible mountainous regions of Central America preserved it and continued to grow it.
This most valuable product experienced a rebirth in the 20th century, when serious research on it began in the USA. Now hundreds of research institutes around the world are engaged in the revival of this ancient culture.

This plant is drought-resistant, heat- and light-loving, self-pollinating and surprisingly resistant to disease. For its extraordinary ability to maintain the fresh appearance of inflorescences, it was respectfully nicknamed “people’s winter friend,” and translated from Greek “amaranthos” means an unfading flower. Amaranth flowers can decorate your home all winter.
The optimal temperature for development is +25+30 °C. However, adult plants tolerate short-term autumn frosts down to -1-3 degrees well. Adapts well to new conditions. It is unpretentious to soils, grows well in saline soils, but prefers soddy-podzolic and light loamy soils. Does not tolerate waterlogged and floating soils, as well as heavy loamy soils.
It is an excellent green manure, significantly improves soil fertility, stimulating the activity of microorganisms that contribute to its enrichment with nitrogen.
Amaranth produces good harvests after potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and legumes.