Chia is easy to grow, beautiful to look at, and offers lots of nutritional value. It deserves a place in any garden. I have been growing chia organically for the past ten years, and in that time I have fine-tuned my growing and harvesting techniques. Chia is one of the easiest plants to grow, and one of the healthiest.
Growing Chia Seeds
Prepare the bed of soil in the fall just barely covering with soil and scatter seeds lightly over
Water lightly each day until sprouts appear
Chia plants required sunny, wet-drained, and plants are drought resistant
Chia plant starts flowering four months after the germination. The blue to lavender flowers will begin to appear. These flowers very attract native bees, honey bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
Once they are pollinated, they die back, and the tiny seeds start to develop
Collect the seeds from the flower when it starts to turn into its lavender color and it starts to dry.
For mass harvesting, farmers use the harvester.
Chia seeds are a very high source of linolenic acid (LNA) and linoleic acid (LA). Both these essential fatty acids attract oxygen and help cell membranes to be flexible and fluid, plus strengthen our immune system to help protect our bodies from viruses, bacteria, and allergies.