Quinoa Seedlings Germinate Successfully

Having mastered the art of cooking quinoa I am now trying to grow my own quinoa in my home garden. I found some quinoa seeds for sale online that are suitable for growing in cooler climates. So last weekend I took a tray with 24 growing pods in it and filled it with multipurpose compost. I then put 2 seeds in each pod and lightly covered them with some more compost. Having watered them I left them on the shelf in my conservatory.

On wednesday the first signs of germination were apparent with little leaves poking through the compost. By Sunday all the pods had little 1 inch high seedlings in them. I am growing a variety called Rainbow as the seeds are all different colours when the are ready to pick. You also cannot buy this variety in health food stores.

I was very surprised at the high germination rate of the quinoa. I had expected to only have a few plants to choose from. As it is I have at least 30. My plot will only take about 6 in the space I have reserved. So I will be throwing the rest out unless I can find someone with spare allotment space nearby.

I will wait until the seedlings are about 6 inches high before planting out. I am told that the quinoa plants are quite vigourous and will grow to a height of about 6 foot. When they are big enough I will post a few quinoa photos to show how they are doing. By September I hope to be cooking with my own home grown quinoa – very exciting.

Recommended Reading

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• Do You Like The Taste Of Quinoa?
• 3 Ways That Quinoa Has Changed In the Last Seven Years and 2 Ways It Hasn’t