While quinoa is famously mild and uncomplainingly takes on the flavor of whatever it’s cooked with, amaranth has some definite ideas of its own. When cooked, the taste of amaranth has been described as “nutty” by fans, and — in the interest of full transparency — “grassy” by some who don’t like its flavor. You’ll have to try it and decide for yourself."
Garden shopping begins tomorrow for me. I’ll be shopping for weeks if not months
Stage 1
Getting 1020 trays from trueleafmarket because the reviews on them say sturdy and they’re near half price of bootstrapfarmer’s.
Getting preloaded Jiffy Pot cell trays from HarrisSeeds. They call them Jiffy Pot Sheets.
Got plenty of seeds from last year but might pick up a few things like onions and one variety of maters, either Sungold F1 or Sungold II open pollinated.
Stage 2
Undecided on lights but will probably just get more of what I have. Probably a few more heat mats since my seedling room gets chilly.
Hoping Yukon Gold seed potatoes will be more available locally this year. All I could find was a single 5 lb bag last year.
Stage 3, 4, 5 etc
Then later, it’s onto infrastructure. Hoops or frame for hoophouse/greenhouse. Greenhouse/tunnel plastic for that and the high tunnel. Shade cloth for the same. Concrete for high tunnel frame. Material to frame end walls and make doors, vents and roll down sides. Lean and lower setup. Automation at least for the vents and maybe roll down sides.
Lots of compost to kick things off and plenty of mulch since I won’t have much time for weeding and I liked how I didn’t have to water every day in last year’s heat wave like my neighbor with his bare soil garden. Could do like some of the youtube market gardeners and put the compost on really thick so it doubles as mulch.
Gonna be some expensive veggies this year but most things will last for years.
Going to get some laying hens this year. Nice that they don’t require a minimum of 25 these days and I do have a hatchery 1 1/2 hours away so I could go get them. Could also get them from the farm store. Coup, goat shed and fence(s) all need improvements/additions.
No need to plant amaranth where I am. It plants itself! I have the wild form of it growing everywhere. Along with Lambsquarters, which is the wild form of quinoa.
Every once in a while I plant a domesticated form, just to try and improve the gene pool in the wild ones.