Cherry Vanilla Quinoa
Beautiful pink and cream heads top these nutritionally dense plants. Protein packed white seeds are easily hand harvested then dried to be used like grain. Thick juicy leaves are perfect raw in salads and have a salty spinach like flavour when cooked. Plant reach 1.5 m. in height and prefer sun and heat - a great source of mid summer greens. This ancient plant comes from the Andes of South America and was domesticated over 3,000 years ago.
Days to Maturity: 100 days
Direct sow in late April thru mid-May when nights are still cool and soil has warmed to 18-24ºC. Sow seeds 0.6 cm deep, 2.5 cm apart for baby greens and thin to one plant every 30 cm for leaf harvest followed by grain harvest. Grow in full sun in rich, well-drained soil. Quinoa is not bothered by birds or many insects and is very drought tolerant. Harvest seed heads when the first seeds begin to shed in late summer. Lay plants on a tarp outside or inside if the weather is wet. Allow to ripen for a few days then thresh the seed by shaking the dried seed heads over the tarp. Very easy to grow and very beautiful. Annual