Grain · Amaranthaceae
When to plant amaranth
Grown for both leaves and seed, thriving in heat that stalls most grain crops. The seedlings are tiny and easily lost to weeds.
Start seed indoors
4 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Plant out
2 weeks after
Counted from your last spring frost.
Sow direct
1 week after
Counted from your last spring frost.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make amaranth plantable anywhere.
- Start seed indoors 4 weeks before the last frost.
- Plant out 2 weeks after the last frost.
- Sow direct 1 week after the last frost.
- Expect 100–130 days to maturity, counted from sowing.
Getting the timing right
Sow after the last frost into warm soil. The seed is very fine and should barely be covered.
Frost tolerance
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.
Classified as tender, with damage expected below 0°C (32°F)32°F (0°C).