Quinoa is a cereal plant and its seeds are rich in protein. This makes this grain a good nutritious food that can be easily planted. Although it is of vegetable origin, the protein of quinoa is known as one of the most "complete" in the world of plants. Hence, this makes quinoa quite popular among vegetarian and vegan people's diets.
Although it does not belong to the same family as the traditional herbs that we grow as grains, it is considered a cereal. Quinoa, unlike other cereals, blooms with beautiful flowers before producing the seeds. Do you want to know how to grow quinoa?
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The first thing we have to keep in mind is that quinoa must be planted in the garden once the soil temperature is more or less 15 ° C, never lower. Normally the planting season for quinoa is at the beginning of spring, when it is more or less certain that there will be no more frosts, since it could end it.
To sow the seed you must dig into the ground to loosen the soil and kill the weeds. Quinoa grows slowly and may have trouble competing with fast-growing weeds, so it is best to get rid of any other growth in the garden before planting it.
The seeds have to be planted in rows, placing them one centimeter deep. More or less between each plant should be about 25-35cm apart so that they do not fight for resources. In the case in which you get more than one outbreak in the same place, start the outbreak that you see weakest.
Growth
You must be careful when pulling weeds out of the garden, since the quinoa plant is very similar to them. At first, the growth of quinoa is slow, but when it reaches 30 cm in height, it will start to grow faster. Quinoa is very adaptable to dry conditions and they will have no problem with a minimum of water.
Harvest
Quinoas leaves are edible, so you can take some young leaves and steam them or simply add them to your salad. The quinoas must be harvested when their leaves have fallen and are plants with a stem and seed heads.