Epazote

How to propagate epazote

This family — the amaranths, beets, chard, spinach and their wild cousins — is grown from seed sown right where it'll stand. The grain amaranths and quinoa throw enormous seed heads you can harvest by the handful and re-sow for free. Beets and chard seed are actually little clusters, so each 'seed' can send up several seedlings you'll need to thin.

Growing epazote in Texas

Give it full sun and tolerant, even poor soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.

This one thrives in heat that flattens other plants, so it earns its space through a Texas summer. Get it established before the worst of July, keep water steady, and it'll produce when little else will.

Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.

Harvesting

Figure on roughly cut as needed before you're harvesting. Pick herbs in the morning after the dew dries for the strongest oils, and harvest little and often — regular cutting keeps a herb bushy and stops it bolting. The part you're after: leaves (cooked).

Making more for free

Every seed we sell is open-pollinated, which means you can save your own from the best plants and it'll grow true next year. Let a few of your strongest plants finish and go to seed, dry it fully, and store it cool and dark. That's the whole point of heirlooms — buy once, grow forever.