Buckwheat

Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 2 through 9

Harvest calendar

Ripens: 70–90 days after sowing, harvested once most seeds have hardened and browned

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Not a true cereal grass despite the name and use — a relative of rhubarb and sorrel, grown for its starchy, gluten-free triangular seeds, ground into flour for soba noodles, blini and buckwheat pancakes. Also grown as a fast, weed-smothering cover crop and bee forage.

Hardiness

Zone 2–9

Habit

Herb

Edible part

Seed

Ripens

70–90 days after sowing, harvested once most seeds have hardened and browned

Mature size

Annual to about 0.6–1.2 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

5.0–7.0, tolerant of poor soil

Environment

Temperate to subtropical

Native range

Native to Southeast Asia (likely Yunnan, China), long cultivated across temperate Eurasia and, since European contact, North America.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

1 yr — 70–90 days from sowing

Growth speed

Very fast — one of the quickest crops there is, which is why it works as a catch crop and green manure

Spacing

10 cm (4 in) apart — about 100 per m² (93 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

Heart-shaped, alternate, on hollow reddish stems

Root system

A shallow, sparse, fibrous root system with a short taproot, nearly all in the top 25 cm — feeble by any standard, which is both why buckwheat needs steady moisture and why it is so easy to turn in as green manure. It is unusually good at taking up phosphorus from soils where other crops cannot.

Fruit description

Small, dark brown, triangular achenes ("groats") in loose clusters

Propagation

Seed, direct-sown after the last frost — germinates and matures quickly, in a single frost-free season.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated (chiefly bees) and self-fertile, though cross-pollination generally improves yield.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.