"Graham Burnett" wrote in message

I got a small amount of seed from Plants For a Future which I planted, of
this only 3 plants made it maturity (problem is it closely resembles Fat
Hen, to which it is related, and which is endemic on my plot as a weed).

I don't know this "fat hen" stuff (we probably have it here but probably use
a different name for it - will do a search later to see if I can figure out
what it is).

I
saved most of this as seed, and the following year thickly broadcast it in
my garden, and had a really high germination rate, it was everywhere and
needed loads of thinning out... Even some soak water that I'd poured onto
the ground germinated. anyway, i harvested the heads again, used most of
it
but kept some seed, however ever since have had very poor germination,
maybe
it was a freak year that it did well??

That is quite an amazingly differing rate!

I must admit that I havn't tried it
the last couple of years, tho small scale grain growing is something I'd
like to try again...

I picked up a 2nd hand book at our last library booksale day about growing
wheat: I've never gotten around to trying to grow wheat but I can
understand why you are interested.

Were you put off trying to grow the quinoa again because of the results of
the germination tribulations or because the product isn't worth the effort?

I guess with such a touchy germination/production rate it is much easier to
give the space and effort to something where you know htat the results will
be more rewarding.


PS: send rain urgently,

Well your welcome to some of ours at the moment...

We'll have some please!

high winds blew my shed
down last weekend and I havn't had a chance to sort it out yet.
Unfortunately it's now dark by the time I usually leave work, so I
explained
to my boss that I had a 'domestic crisis' I had to deal with and he let me
leave work early to sort it out the other day (I think he found it quite
funny that I considered a shed on it's side a 'domestic crisis...'),

Bummer - still, it's better than your dunny lying on its side.

but it
was absolutely chucking it down so all i could do was salvage a few tools
and stash them temporarily in my compost bin... Today I was hoping to get
down the allotment but again it's hacking down outside.... And I've got
loads of potatoes that need to come out.... Arrggghhh!!!!

Well if you send us some rain you should have enough of a break to get those
pratties under cover )