Getting Started with Microgreens

Our next Microgreens class is coming up in January.

If you’re a homesteader, and are in a northerly place (like New England), you know you can’t just grow outside in your garden year-round. I’ve found a way to simultaneously grow delicious, healthy greens and to provide some pleasing eye candy during the long winter months.

I’ve been experimenting with a type of crop that can be grown inside, in soil. Actual nutrient-rich, messy, soil. This crop is highly nutritious and great-tasting. It can be used as a fresh addition to salads, or piled on to sandwiches or added to soups or chowders. And it goes from seed to sandwich in as little as five days.

I had never heard of microgreens before, but they are getting some attention in the healthy food movement. I’ll share with you what I’ve learned and then we can start growing these together.

A microgreen is really just a regular vegetable that is harvested early in its development cycle. They have been called the “veal of greens” because of their short life and intense flavor. Some crops are better suited to being harvested early than others are. There are several advantages of microgreens, especially for the living room farmer:

Microgreens are grown inside, and so are not as susceptible to insects and other predators. Mold can be a problem, but there are ways to deal with that.
Because of their fast growing cycle and early harvesting, you can get real food really fast.
Because they are grown in soil, there is less of a chance of bacterial contamination than a soil-less crop such as sprouts.
Having a shelf full of green crops growing in your living room really lifts the soul!

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Potting soil, available at any home center or online.
Seeds. I started with daikon radish, but there are dozens of seeds specifically bred for microgreens. We’ll just need an ounce per crop so you can get a small quantity or large, depending on your confidence.
A small scale
Water bottle with sprayer
A set of 10″x20″ trays These come with drain holes and without. Make sure you get the kind without drain holes.
Other various household items, like paper towels, scissors, measuring cups and such.
Optionally, a shelf system to put everything on, unless you have a patient spouse who lets you experiment on the kitchen counter.

Depending on what kind of space you have, you might need supplemental light. These things like lots of light, particularly at their highest-growth phase. If you have a deep window sill with a south-facing window, you could probably get away with just using daylight. But if it’s the middle of winter and there’s only a few hours of light, or you can’t find a place with direct sunlight, you might want to try using a small, cheap light.

Fluorescent tubes or LEDs would be better than incandescent because you don’t want to subject the little guys with too much heat. A small LED strip light or fluorescent will be fine. You might have one in the garage, or you can get them at pretty much any hardware store.

This is just about the minimum to get started, and it doesn’t take that much money. The 10×20 trays might be hard to find without having to buy a kit comprised of soil and potting supplies.

Better yet, do an internet search for a hydroponics store in your area. This business is growing and I’m seeing more and more stores popping up. They usually carry everything I listed above, and I’ve found the people to be very helpful.

Hydroponic growing is popular among people growing certain, perhaps regulated, plants in secret rooms of their house. I’ve never had any problem, but the truly paranoid might want to pay cash and not sign up for newsletters or catalogs to be sent to their home, if you know what I mean.

So get the supplies you need and next time, I’ll go through the process of preparing the soil and planting the seeds of our first microgreens crop!

Or, you can get hands-on experience growing your own microgreens at our Garnet School class.