How to Grow Microgreens
Growing healthy food inside your home in the winter is easier than you might think. Microgreens are the perfect project to help satisfy the winter doldrums and boost your immunity at the same time!
First, let’s start with the identification of microgreens. Microgreens are miniature plants grown from seeds that need soil and sunlight to grow. You only eat the stems and baby leaves of the plants, unlike sprouts, where you eat the seed and roots as well. Sprouts differ as they do not need soil to grow.
The best part about growing microgreens is that they go from planting to harvest in 7-14 days, depending on the seed varieties that you plant, giving you almost instant gratification! You can literally wake up every morning and see the growth of the shoots.
The best way to dip your toe in the water is to purchase a microgreen growing kit. (Amazon affiliate link) The Urban Leaf kit I purchased ($39.95 on Amazon Prime) comes with everything you will need to start growing your own microgreens with no other items needed. It includes non-clear growing trays with clear lids, growing mats (less messy than soil and are only one time use so no worry about mold or bugs), seeds, and water.
Water is added to the bottom of the growing trays and the moistened growing mats are placed on top.
The seeds are spread over the mats (the density of the seeds depends on the variety and is clearly marked on the packets) and the clear lids placed on top. Bring the trays over by a sunny window in your house and voila! That is all there is to it!
After 2 days you will see the seeds start to germinate in the humid environment of the trays. Uncover them and the sun, soil and water will work their magic to make the shoots grow. The first leaves to appear are seed leaves and these are the same double lobed shape for every type of plant. The next leaves to appear are the true leaves which look like miniature versions of the real plant leaves.
Harvesting time depends on the variety of seeds you are growing. Some seeds like radishes have a nice, sweet radish flavor when the seed leaves appear and will be ready to eat in 7 days. Others such as kale will take up to 14 days to provide you with a slight kale-like taste from the true leaves. You can harvest any of the shoots after the seed leaves appear, but some will have a generic shoot flavor that does not taste like the actual seed you are growing.
Microgreens are very fragile and should be harvested just before you are ready to eat them. Taste a shoot to check the flavor, it can change every day that the shoot grows. Once you are ready to consume them, use scissors to cut the stems about ½ an inch from the grow mat. The greens will not grow back, so once all the shoots are harvested you can dispose of the growing mats and start a new batch.
Let’s talk the benefits of eating microgreens. They are loaded with nutrients that our bodies need such as copper, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, and antioxidants. Since microgreens are just mini versions of the full-grown plants, the nutrients are concentrated in those tiny shoots and leaves.
My next post will show you the best ways to use microgreens in some delicious recipes.