Buckwheat
Buckwheat: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
Buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum, is an annual in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. Its seeds are used in ways similar to cereal grains, although the plant belongs to a different botanical family. It also serves as a cover crop and green manure. These uses draw on a fast-growing plant with broad leaves and a light display of small flowers.Upright stems branch and may develop reddish tones. Green leaves have a heart-shaped base and a pointed tip, often giving them a triangular outline. Their arrangement and width create a cover quite unlike a grass crop. Depending on cultivar and conditions, the plants form a taller or shorter, denser or more open stand capable of shading the soil surface. This leafy outline is part of buckwheat's characteristic appearance.Small flowers, usually white and sometimes pink-tinged, gather near the upper parts of the plant. In suitable conditions, flowering can begin within a few weeks of sowing…
