Looking for some easy vegetables to grow? And would you like the option of growing vegetables indoors? Calling mighty microgreens to the rescue!
Mighty Microgreens
Microgreens are tiny, tender, flavorful seedlings of vegetables and/or herbs. Studies show they can be up to 40 times richer in vital nutrients than their mature counterparts. Microgreens and baby greens can be grown on your windowsill, on a sunny balcony during moderate temperatures, or underneath grow lights. They can be harvested as early as 7 to 10 days from sowing so you get a quick harvest without much work. These delicious edible plants are the ultimate in small space gardening.
What vegetables and herbs can be grown as microgreen?
It’s easy to start growing microgreens with a pre-packaged microgreen mix or you can grow any lettuce, salad green, or herb as microgreen. Here are a few popular vegetable varieties and some fast growing seeds to grow as microgreens:
- Arugula
- Endive
- Beet greens
- Kale
- Mustard
- Peas
- Cabbage
- Basil
- Any lettuce
- Swiss chard
- Radishes
- Sunflower
- Buckwheat
Some common vegetable crops like tomato, pepper, eggplant, and potato are not edible at the seedling stage and are not suitable to produce microgreens because they contain alkaloids which at high levels are toxic for humans.
Growing Microgreens
Fill a planter with moist soil and scatter your seeds, barely covering them with a top layer of soil. Press gently so that the seeds make good contact with the damp soil and won’t dry out. Sow microgreen seeds in successions for a continuous supply at your fingertips. Spray to keep the soil moist and/or water from the bottom and you should see germination within a few days. Start harvesting when seedlings have developed at least two sets of true leaves. Use clean scissors to snip them off at the soil level or leave some baby green leaves and you may get another spurt of growth.
Here are a few growing tips:
- Optimal air temperature is 65°–75°F.
- A key element necessary to produce microgreens is the growing medium. The most popular media used are peat-based mixes or coconut coir.
- Good air circulation is important to help prevent fungal disease.
- For a continual crop, sow every 7-14 days.
- Washing microgreens in fresh drinking water before consuming them is always recommended. Be aware that microgreens plant tissues are very gentle and their shelf life may be reduced after washing. An alternative could be to bag and refrigerate microgreens then wash them right before they are used.
To grow microgreens on your windowsill, use a cache pot like the Crescent Too Eva or Uma planters.
A cachepot is a decorative planter with no drainage hole that you can sit your potted plant that has drainage holes inside so that you don’t have to worry about water staining your surfaces. This makes it easy to water from the bottom. If you want to grow a bigger crop of microgreens, our Trudrop planters are made to water from the bottom!
Microgreen flavors will range from the spicy taste of mustard to the mild taste of baby basil greens. Having fun with the variety of microgreen seed options and enjoy a wide range of culinary opportunities.
