Ever Thought About Growing Grains in Your Lawn?
Worried you don’t have enough space?

In this post, we’ll focus on a few of the easier grains to grow, such as buckwheat, sorghum, and amaranth.

Grow Grains: Buckwheat
Buckwheat is one of our favorite plants. You can use it as one of the flours in gluten-free cooking—for example, to make buckwheat pancakes!

When buckwheat is in bloom, it is lovely, and many pollinators will appreciate your efforts.

Compared to the other grains mentioned above, buckwheat is one of the quickest and easiest to grow. It grows to around 2 feet tall and can be inter-planted with other plants.

Where to Grow Buckwheat
Buckwheat can be grown in a bed, and it will re-seed itself every year.

When to Plant
How do you grow buckwheat? Buckwheat thrives in cooler climates. Experts recommend planting it about three months before your killing frost.

As mentioned above, buckwheat re-seeds itself, so in the following year, you could potentially get two crops.

To sow, simply scatter the seeds in your designated area, cover them lightly with compost, and water consistently until seedlings emerge. Be careful not to sow too densely, as this will crowd the plants. Crowded plants become spindly, reducing the yield.

The seeds germinate relatively quickly.

Harvesting Buckwheat
Harvest when 75% of the seeds are dark. If you wait until 100% of the seeds are dark, many will have already fallen to the ground.

After harvesting, mill the seeds and separate the hulls from the mix.

Even if you don’t want to grow buckwheat for its seeds, it makes an excellent green manure, and pollinators love it.

Grow Grains: Amaranth
Amaranth flowers are flashy, but the seeds are the real powerhouse—they are high in protein. A cup of cooked amaranth contains 9 grams of protein.

Additionally, the young leaves taste like natural spinach, although the flavor is an acquired taste.

Many people use amaranth seeds in their grains or add them to bread recipes.

Before you get too excited about growing amaranth, remember it can become invasive. Its tiny seeds spread easily throughout the garden. We planted it once and never needed to plant it again. The red plants re-emerge somewhere in the garden every year, and you can simply replant them.

How to Grow Amaranth
Like buckwheat, amaranth grows best in the ground, not in raised beds. The bloom heads are heavy and will topple over in a raised bed.

Start amaranth seeds indoors and transplant them after the last frost. Space the plants about a foot apart to allow them to grow properly. As mentioned above, you can harvest them for their young leaves, flowers, or seeds.

Harvest amaranth just before frost. To check readiness, rub part of the flower head and see if seeds fall into your hand. If they do, it’s time to harvest. If not, most of the seeds will end up scattered around your garden.

A word of caution: Process the seeds either outdoors, where stray seeds won’t matter, or indoors in a controlled environment to avoid unintentional spreading.

Grow Grains: Sorghum
Sorghum grows similarly to corn. In fact, many people mistake it for corn in my garden. However, sorghum can grow up to 8 feet tall and produces a beautiful beaded head.

Red Broom sorghum is stunning but difficult to separate from its seed heads. Mennonite sorghum is much easier to harvest.

How to Grow Sorghum
Wait until the last frost has passed to plant sorghum. The seeds are smaller than corn, so plant each seed about 12 inches apart.

We prefer growing sorghum in a plot rather than a raised bed, as the soil in raised beds isn’t firm enough to support its height. If you grow sorghum in raised beds, be prepared to stake the plants.

Sorghum matures in 90 to 120 days. Harvest when the seeds turn a dark color, typically around the first frost.

Harvesting Sorghum
Cut the stalks down and remove the heads. Wear gloves for this process. Use a piece of hardware cloth (available at most hardware stores) to rub the seed heads against. The seeds will fall into a container placed below.

Like buckwheat, you can mill sorghum grains and separate the hulls from the seeds.

By growing these grains in your lawn or garden, you can enjoy a unique and sustainable addition to your food supply!