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How to Grow Ornamental Millet

Millet is cereal grass grown mainly for its grains or even used as an ingredient in some beer. Ornamental millet is becoming a garden attraction due to its colorful, cattail-like flower spikes and potential 3 1/2-foot height. It comes in many varieties, such as Purple Majesty and Jade Princess, with Purple Baron being a particularly eye-catching type of purple-leaf ornamental millet. Growing this plant is not difficult -- if you've ever spilled seed from your bird feeder, you may have even grown millet before accidentally.

Things You'll Need

Peat pot
Soilless planting medium
Trowel
Utility knife
All-purpose fertilizer

Instructions

- 1
  Fill a peat pot with a soilless planting medium that has a pH from 5.5 to 6.3.
- 2
  Sow three millet seeds in the peat pot, each 1/2 inch deep. Start your seeds indoors four to six weeks before the last frost date in your area.
- 3
  Water the soil enough so that it is always moist. Seeds should germinate within five days. Once leaves develop you should water slightly less, making sure the there is no wilting or the seedlings don̵7;t dry out.
- 4
  Clear a site in your garden that has full sun and rich, well-drained soil.
- 5
  Cut off the bottom of the peat pot with a utility knife and plant the pot into the designated area in the garden with a trowel when temperatures are consistently above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Plants can become stressed or damaged when moved around; this is called transplant shock. Keeping the plant in the biodegradable peat pot helps reduce transplant shock.
- 6
  Water well. Apply a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer once a month during the remainder of the growing season.

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