Buckwheat

Fagopyrum esculentum

Polygonaceae (Knotweed)

The fastest summer cover crop — flowers in a month, feeds bees, smothers weeds, then breaks down quickly.

Cover cropPollinatorBuilds soil

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) illustration — Texas Roots plant database, by Jordan Polasek

Sun

Full sun

Water

Low

Soil

Tolerant, even poor

pH

5.5–7.0

Hardiness

Warm-season annual

Height

2–4 ft

Spacing

Broadcast

Days to harvest

30–45 to bloom

What it is

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is in the Polygonaceae (Knotweed) family. The fastest summer cover crop — flowers in a month, feeds bees, smothers weeds, then breaks down quickly.

How to grow it

It wants full sun, water it low, and give it tolerant, even poor soil. Target a soil pH around 5.5–7.0. Space plants about Broadcast apart. Expect roughly 30–45 to bloom. Warm-season annual.

How it's used

Buckwheat is used: cover; seed is edible groat.

🔎 How to identify it

Heart-shaped leaves
White flower clusters
Reddish hollow stems

Edibility

PartsSeed (groats)

UsesCover; seed is edible groat

CautionNot frost-tolerant; a warm-season cover only.

🌤 Before you plant: check the live 7-day garden weather to time it right for frost and heat.

Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.