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Quite often on flowerbeds there are tall bushes with plump long burgundy glinters. Many simply weed it out like weeds, and - make a mistake. This is far from a weed, and an annual amaranth plant. It serves not only for decorative purposes, but is also widely used as a siderata, for animal feed, in cooking and even in folk medicine. Therefore, many grow amaranth specially, and often on a large scale.
If there is no need to receive seeds or flowers as soon as possible, the amaranth is sown directly into the open ground. To accelerate the growth and maturation of seeds, it is better to use the seedling method of growing amaranth, because in this case it will have time to blossom before the onset of frost. Simple rules and small tips on growing seedlings of amaranth to your attention.
Seeding of amaranth seeds for seedlings
Sowing seeds on seedlings is better at the very beginning of spring. It is good to use peat pots for this purpose, because the plant likes loose soil. Seeds should be lightly covered with earth, it should not be rammed. To create a hothouse effect, cover it from above with a film. If the planting was not one piece, after the emergence of seedlings, the seedlings must be weeded out and left in the pot one plant.
Care for seedlings is a regular watering. To ensure that the seedling does not stretch, it must be hardened: containers with seedlings should be carried to the open air, gradually increasing the time spent on the street.
Planting seedlings in the ground
The seedling of the amaranth will be ready for transplanting into the open ground in about a month. Immediately before planting seedlings, it should be well watered, so that when removing, do not damage the root system. Transplant should be done in cloudy weather, and if nature "pumped up" and there are sunny days - it is better to wait until the evening. In this case, the planted seedlings are recommended to additionally darken.
The seedlings of the amaranth must be planted in the reclining position, sprinkling the earth to the very first leaf. The distance between the two plants must be at least half a meter, and when planted in rows between them leave up to 80 cm.
Dense plantings of amaranth will adversely affect its stems - they will stretch and break.
Proper care for amaranth in the process of further growth
Amaranth is absolutely unpretentious in the care, just enough time to water it and hone the ranks. Weeding the weeds will take time only in the first month after the landing in the ground, until the plant grows slightly and does not gain strength. From the second month the amaranth will pass into a phase of active growth, in the day the top will be stretched for 7 cm, and no weeds will not be scary anymore. Remains only to watch so that the soil under the amaranth does not dry up, and regularly watered.
To increase the number of lateral shoots and fruit ovaries in late June, the amaranth should be pricked top. The culture is able to grow on poor soils, but it is better to feed the solution of ash and mullein.
The harvest of greenery is collected at a height of the bush at 25 cm, and the seeds ripen in September. Due to the fact that the seeds of amaranth are very small, not all ripen at once and therefore crumble, the panicles are recommended to be cut and dried in a dark room.
