Grow Your Own Microgreens Indoors — It’s A Great Indoor Gardening Project!

Remember the adage that good things come in small packages?  Let’s start with microgreens.

Scientists and nutritionists say that microgreens provide a much denser source of nutrition than their mature selves.  A study published on WebMD.com concluded that because they’re harvested right after germination, they still contain all the nutrients they need to grow.

The flavor packs an outsize punch too, and they are great sprinkled on salads, in sandwiches or as a garnish for soups.

Microgreens are not the same as sprouts. Sprouts are newly germinated seeds that are harvested just as the seed begins to grow and before leaves develop. A sprout can grow in 3 days.  Microgreens become microgreens only after the first leaves emerge.  Sometimes they are harvested at the cotyledon stage (cotyledons are the first set of leaves to emerge on a plant) and sometimes after the first set of true leaves appears. True leaves emerge right after the cotyledons.

Growing Microgreens:

Select your seeds—If you’re being efficient you can purchase seeds packed by the pound or kilo, especially for growing microgreens.  Several popular mail order companies, including West Coast Seeds, sell them in this way. They sell an organic microgreen sunflower seed that is their number one recommendation for flavor, texture and nutrition.

Each crop has its own characteristics. Radish microgreens can add a spicy kick to salads; broccoli microgreens have a high concentration of minerals and have a mild cabbage flavor; peas are sweet and crunchy and taste like young snow peas;  and sunflower microgreens make a great snack or salad on their own.

Sow your seeds—Fill a shallow container or tray with compacted, premoistened soilless seed starting mix. Sprinkle seeds on top of the soil fairly densely. For tiny seeds such as arugula you can lightly dust the seeds with more soil and for larger seeds such as sunflower put a thicker layer of soil on top.  Tamp them down gently with another tray to ensure good seed to soil contact.  Water with warm water or a warm mist. Your container should have drainage holes in the bottom and you want to put a lid on top to keep the moisture in.

Keep trays warm on a heating pad or on top of your refrigerator, and away from sunlight, until seeds germinate, and then move to a sunny spot near a window. As your greens grow you can put a grow light over them or leave them in a south facing window, but check them often to be sure they don’t dry out.  In two to three weeks you will have a crop you can harvest.  For more information on growing indoors with grow lights, click here and here.

Be sure to label your trays like the most experienced gardeners do. Include the plant name and date the seeds were started. See Womanswork plant labels here.

Harvest your greens –To harvest cut the stems just above the soil line with scissors.  After an entire tray is harvested put the soil and remaining roots in the compost, or you can pull the roots out and reuse the soil one more time.  Elizabeth Palmer of Dutchess Farm in Castleton, VT says “Microgreens use up a lot of the nutrients in the soil because the seeds are sown densely,” so for commercial growers like Dutchess every crop starts with cleaned trays and fresh potting soil (from McEnroe Farm!).

Elizabeth, a former resident of Pawling who worked for Womanswork, sent us seeds for us to try, including arugula, pea shoots, purple radish, daikon radish and sunflower. I’ve sown my seeds and will be reporting on my success on our website and in social media in the weeks to come!  Thank you Elizabeth!