Various Amaranths have been important to many cultures. The leaves from Pigweed can be cooked and used much like spinach. However, since one plant can produce a few hundred thousand seeds, and since these seeds can live in the soil for almost a half century, cultivating it isn\'t a good idea.
These heat-loving annuals can tolerate poor soil, but they prefer rich loose soil. In other words, they are happiest in your garden! In good soil they can get up to four feet tall, and several feet across. Dig them, hoe them out, or pull them by hand, but do not let them go to seed.
This can be a giant of a weed in your summer garden, and is
known for making oodles of seeds. But on the bright side, it is edible; sometimes
even aphids find it tastier than the plants you actually want to be in your beds!
The name says it all...
Genus: Amaranthus
Species: retroflexus
Family: Amaranthaceae
Common Name: Pigweed, Redroot
Origin: ?
All contents © Travis Saling
This page was last updated
November 18, 2013