What are Microgreens?
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What are
Microgreens?
Edible young greens
are produced from various kinds of vegetables, herbs, or other plants. They
range in size from 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 cm), including the stem and
leaves. The stem is cut just above the soil line during harvesting. Microgreens
have fully developed cotyledon leaves and usually one pair of very small,
partially developed true leaves. The average crop-time for most microgreens is
10–14 days from seeding to harvest.
Why farm
Microgreens?
Microgreens are easy
to grow and after a few days you can already see the result and after 1-2 weeks
you can already harvest and eat them. You can grow them indoor at your window
or in your bedroom. Basically 12 months a year. During winter or dry season,
and they need little water, care and light. You can even grow them under
artificial light. So there is no reason not to grow them. They need little
space and it is such a motivating feeling to see your own Microgreens develop. It is
like having a child and see how it develops daily.
Microgreens is like
having your own healthy garden all the time available.
Microgreens are
really cheap if you grow them yourself. A pack of seed cost around 2-4$ and I
would say a plate of Microgreens got the cost of around 20-40 Cents. If you buy
the seeds in larger quantities the cost of it will even go lower.
Microgreens are
super healthy. Compared to the full grown plant, they got high nutritional
value compared to mature vegetables. They don't need any chemicals or
pesticides.
Microgreens don't
need to be transported large distances or come from another continent, but are
harvest right at your home or next door.
How to use
Microgreens?
Microgreens can be
added to any meals basically like spices to boost the taste of your meal.
Commonly they are added to meals like Pasta, Salad, Dips or Soup or mixed in a
smoothie. Compared to vegetables they are easier to eat. Some children for
example don't like Broccoli, but eating Broccoli Microgreens is much easier. In
the future I plan to show some recipes and picture of what you can do with
Microgreens here.
How to start farm
Microgreens?
Farming Microgreens
is really easy. All you need is a container to hold the grow medium where the Microgreens grow,
seeds, water and a bit of light.
For the start I
bought plastic plates, the one you can use for barbecue as container. 10 plates cost around
2-3$
for the grow medium I used cotton wool, which is much easier to get then jutemate or cocos mate, or soil, specially when you grow it indoor.
Then you need seeds
which cost around 2-4$ depending on which type you want to grow. You can
basically grow Microgreens of seeds of nearly any vegetables, but the one that
are spicy taste the best.
I bought Kress,
Radish, Basil, Persil, Salad, Spinach, Lettuce for my first test run.
I am still pretty
new to Microgreen farming, and so far I bought first 20g Kress for 2$ and Bio Cotton
for 3$ to get started. Then I bought more seeds for a total of 20$. I started 1 week ago and already managed to do my first
harvest and eat it. I used about 2g of seeds and I think the Kress seeds will last
for about 10 times.
The longest part in
the growing is the germinating process, which can take from 3 days for Kress up
to 21 days for Persil. The best how to start the germinating process is put the
grow medium into water with the seeds and basically cover it up. I basically
use a plate and cover the seeds with another plate average temperature for
germinating process is around 20 degree. I water the seeds maybe once in 1-3
days, and just check daily once the seeds germinated if there is enough water.
Don't put too much water else you can get mould, which can destroy what you
sow. You can see daily how the Microgreens grow and once you feel like harvesting,
the best is to use a sharp knife or a scissor.
The seeds that I
used are:
Kress 20g around
7500 plants germinating process 3 days
Spinach 20g around
1000 plants germinating process 12 days
Salad germinating
process 10 days
Lettuce 5g 500
plants germinating process 20 days
Radish 7g 600 plants
germinating process 8 days
Basil germinating
process 18 days
Persil 3g 300 plants
germinating process 21 days
Beetroot 5g 150
plants germinating process 14 days.
