The Edible Weed

Amaranth/morogo

I finally found out the Western /scientific name for the green leaves that usually threaten to overtake my gardens.

I knew their Setswana name.. thepe, which is part of the "morogo" family and they are edible so we eat them quite a lot.

But people online kept asking me what they are when  I mentioned them and it was very difficult to translate the concept.

Then the other day when I went shopping I bought some seeds for my March planting plan, and I saw them. Amaranthus. That's what the plant is called.

When I told Mma about seeing the seeds being sold though, her question was a puzzled "but why would anyone want to seed those things?"

Even more puzzling for her was the idea that someone would actively care for them, water them, compost their beds. "Those things will take over a garden without any help from the gardener!" LOL! The same thing can be said about rocket/arugula too, which we love.

I tried to remind her of native plants and that they vary depending on the region and surely there are people out there who don't get amaranthus, but I guess when you spent a lifetime knowing that the sky was blue, it would be very difficult to fathom why scientists are developing a method to make the sky blue. Or something similar.

kale

So..I did buy most of the seeds I needed for my planting plan and can live without what I couldn't find. I'm currently trying to find a hardly used patch in the garden to plant kale.

It's a perennial plant, so I want to put it some place it can thrive undisturbed for years or as long as we can manage.

The big fried egg in the sky is still hiding, though the rain has let up a bit. So we were able to do a big planting session today.