Garden Organic are doing a study of the vegetable amaranth from April to October in order to find out what you like about it – and whether you think it’s a crop worth growing in our changing climate.
Photo courtesy of Garden Organic
Background
Amaranth is widely grown in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean from tropical to temperate climes. The vegetable, also known as Chinese spinach or callaloo, can be grown both as a crop for seed and a crop for leaves. Its leaves are highly nutritious, containing a wide range of amino acids, calcium, magnesium and antioxidants.
It’s grown extensively by multicultural communities in the UK, particularly Jamaican, Gujarati and Bangladeshi communities – but most UK growers are not so familiar with the crop.
Garden Organic would like to find out what you think of it and whether it’s a good crop to grow in our increasingly warming climate in the UK. It’s important we grow a more diverse range of crops to spread the risk from unpredictable weather conditions and pressure from pests and diseases.
