21.08.2023 - 12:00 / theunconventionalgardener.com / Emma Doughty
This year I took part in a Garden Organic experiment to see whether quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) can be successfully grown in UK gardens. Two varieties of seed were supplied by Real Seeds – Rainbow and Temuco. They’re a tender crop, and I sowed my seeds at the end of April and planted them out at the end of May. Germination was excellent.
The plants are pretty, with unusual leaves, and self-supporting until the point at which they grow their large seed heads and the colours start to develop. This is my quinoa bed in September, with the Rainbow in the foreground and the bright orange Temuco at the back:
Once the seedheads are fully formed and coloured, they can be harvested. But I didn’t read the instructions, so I didn’t know that and I left mine on the plants until the beginning of October, by which time the colours had faded and the seed heads were dry.
Then I left the seed heads on one side until this morning – I couldn’t face threshing the seeds. I have now threshed the Rainbow, and I can’t say it was much fun. The seeds do come off the stems pretty easily, but it’s messy work and hard on your hands (Real Seeds recommend wearing rubber gloves, which I would second). You’re left with a pile of seeds and a lot of chaff that needs winnowing – but there’s no wind today and I wouldn’t fancy winnowing in freezing weather anyway. And the pile of seed from 11 seed heads isn’t really worth the effort.
According to Real Seeds, different varieties cross so my seed won’t be worth saving. I don’t fancy eating it, even if I could face the winnowing, soaking and rinsing that was still needed. I think the best option might be to rinse it and see if the chickens like it (they don’t like the soapy sapponins any more than we do) once it’s