What Are Microgreens and How To Grow Them

Most of us as children grew cress on wet kitchen roll and growing microgreens is not much more difficult.

Microgreens are extremely nutritious and are used extensively in gourmet restaurants as garnish and flavour accents. They are now available commercially, but being able to harvest them at home just before use, is not only a very cool thing to do but retains all the flavour, vitamins and minerals that otherwise could be lost in packaging and transport. It is now quite easy to purchase the seeds of microgreens as individual or ready mixed varieties. You can even buy starter kits with everything you need including seeds, compost, trays and instructions. These are ideal for the beginner and as you gain confidence you can move on to specific varieties.

What are microgreens?

There are many types of sprouting seeds you might be aware of such as mung beans, alfalfa and the like which are eaten just after the seeds germinate. Lately however, it has been found that these sprouting seeds can harbour harmful bacterial growth. Microgreens on the other hand are grown for their leaves and are harvested like any other leafy vegetable, albeit at an early stage of their life.

The most popular are watercress, fennel, chives and wheatgrass but there are many other varieties. Unlike sprouting seeds they are not grown just in water, unless you go along the hydroponics route, but are planted in seed compost or a soil substitute. We all know of the nutritional value of vegetables but the advantage of microgreens is that some may be ready within a week and most can be grown all year round indoors. So you don’t need to have a garden to grow it fresh, just a pot on the windowsill will suffice.

How to grow microgreens

Purchase microgreen seeds from a reputable source and use only those that are produced for this purpose or for sprouting. Use quite shallow containers as you do not need a lot of seed compost. You could use empty plastic food containers, small baskets lined with plastic or cleaned food tins – sardine tins look great – in fact anything that is lightweight and able to have drainage holes punched in the bottom. Fill the container with seed compost or your chosen growing medium to a depth of about 4cm and stand in a tray of water just long enough for the surface of the compost to feel damp then sprinkle the seeds over the surface. Experience will tell you how densely to sow but as a novice, imagine sprinkling salt and pepper over your dinner and that will give you some idea of the amount of seed to start with. Cover the seeds with a fine layer of compost. Remember to keep the container well watered! Place your container on a light windowsill and keep out of draughts.

How to harvest microgreens

Depending on the variety of seeds you have planted they could be harvested in just over a week. Sprouting seeds are harvested when the tiny seed leaves have emerged but you need to wait a little longer for microgreens to growp their true leaves which are the ones that develop after the seed leaves. Cut the stalks just before you need to use them as vitamins start to be lost with storage. If the greens start to wilt, pop them in water and they should perk up again. Just cut enough for what you need and let the rest continue growing. Microgreens are so tender that you need a sharp pair of scissors to cut them and if you cut above the seed leaves, some varieties will start to grow again. Gently rinse under the tap and they are ready to use.

Nutritional values in microgreens

Microgreens are in the group of plants that have been found to contain health promoting and disease preventing properties and contain a higher level of compounds than in seeds or mature plants. As they are grown in light conditions they also have higher levels than sprouting seeds. Different varieties have been shown to contain different health properties such as:

• Cabbage – high in vitamin C and can provide a hormonal balance
• Chives – rich in vitamins C and A, with calcium and iron
• Fennel – has good digestive properties and can relieve indigestion
• Fenugreek – high in vitamins A, C, B and E with iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc
• Wheatgrass – this is truly a super food containing every vitamin, mineral and amino acids required for total human nutrition.

These are just a few of the many different kinds of microgreen seeds available, there are hundreds of other varieties to try all with different tastes, colours and health giving properties and cost a mere fraction of bought greens. The kits are very inexpensive and a good way to start or you can do it yourself, either way head over to our website where we have everything you need to start growing delicious, healthy microgreens!

Published September 8th, 2014 by Jordan. Article ref 3085

Tags: cress, grow your own, microgreens

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