Thanks to both of you!
I harvested the Hopi Red Dye seeds, but I'm sure an equal amount fell on the ground. Same with Dreadlocks, which was my favorite. I'll probably pull the seedlings up, since I'm not wanting an entire flower bed stuffed full of them! It would be too much work to transplant them to where I want them to grow, so I want to start with seeds. Three others that I planted, one of which was Elephant Head, ended up being the wrong plants. I contact the seed company and sent pictures, but they didn't know which ones they were. They had a supply issue - I bought them at a store - and they were going to let me know if they ever found the true name. But, I liked them, so I wanted to save the seeds for later, and preferred to know which ones they really were.
Dirt, my BFF in Utah plants hers the same way you do, by throwing the seed heads where she wants them. She does that in the Spring though. I'll let her know that she can do that in the Fall too, since it is fun to garden when there isn't much going on besides cleanup!
We're putting in a food crop for mainly game birds, and I heard that amaranthus would be a good choice to mix in. So, I decided to do a test planting in my garden, and I fell in love with the plant! The biologist from the local DWR office is going to help with the plot. They have a program here in Idaho where they will even help pay for it! We need to get the field plowed before doing anything though, because it is bunch grass right now. So, I'm saving the seeds to plant in the plot. We're leaving an acre or so in bunch grass for a nesting/hiding area, but we should have about 2 acres planted in crops for the birds by the end of next year. If it goes well, we'll do more. The pheasant population here has been decimated because everyone grows winter wheat, and those fields seem to be where the hens lay their eggs, because there is nowhere else that is appropriate. When the wheat is harvested, the chicks don't survive. The deer should also like the amaranthus, and if it helps to keep some of the deer out of the alfalfa, that will help the neighbors that need the alfalfa for their cattle. The deer were so bad this year that there was almost no alfalfa to harvest when the time came to do that. If the deer like amaranthus better than alfalfa, I'm sure that more people will grow it in their CRP plots, just to help with the alfalfa production. We're being the guinea pigs!
