Well of course you're nuts, but the way I see it, that's a requirement to be a gardener, and you're in great company around these parts!

I'll be following your experiment with much interest--I have considered trying to grow quinoa myself (see, also crazy). I wonder if there is something you can rig up to keep the plant in the shade on the hottest of sunny days? I'm thinking a lightweight PVC frame with floating row cover attached, again for only the hottest days?

Once, in a far away land, for the fun of it, I grew sesame. I ended up with a whole lot of sesame seeds. Not knowing what I was doing re harvesting them, quite a few fell on the ground, and the next season, boy did I have a lot of sesame 'starts'.

YMMV, as they say ;-).

I grew it one year, and it did fine, but wasn't clear on when to harvest, and the frost got to it before I did ...

Also, I heard somewhere that it is related to the weed called lamb's quarters. If so, that grows around here, so seems like quinoa should do well.

Hahahaha, thanks for the affirmation, mayberry! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right? They grow so many things in other parts of the country that won't grow here, kind of fun to have an advantage for a change.

Sesame, David? How fun! Even if you did have a lot of volunteers to deal with.

That's encouraging to hear you had some success with it, Bonnie! I guess I'm just seeing worst possible scenario and one of those 95+ stretches for days. Still worth the gamble, I think. And nice to know the leaves are edible as well as the seeds.