There are plenty of benefits to growing microgreens.
It’s also easy to grow microgreens, indoors or outdoors.
They grow well in garden beds orcontainersand they provide you with a quick harvest.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
Microgreens may look like cute plants, but before you begin, consider the cons of growing them.
What Are Microgreens?
Why Grow Your Own Microgreens?
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Kids will enjoy helping and watching them grow, too.
Microgreens are easy to grow and take up a little space, such as a window sill.
You snip off what you want to use and enjoy it fresh right from your own garden.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
Tips
Add fresh microgreens to salads, sandwiches, and stir-fries.
They’re great on pizza, too.
What Can You Grow as a Microgreen?
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
you could grow anysalad greenor herb as a microgreen.
It’s easy to start with pre-packaged seed mixes including specific microgreen mixes.
Select one or two types of seeds when you are first starting out.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
Good choices include broccoli, lettuce, radish, cauliflower, spinach, basil, or cilantro.
Next, choose the area and containers you will plant them in.
Choose a nice sunny spot.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
Then determine the growing medium you want to use.
check that to leave room to put a thin layer of soil on top after planting the seeds.
Loosen the soil and rake it smooth.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
Remember, you’ll harvest them very young, so they don’t need a lot of room.
Water with a spray bottle or mister to evenly moisten the soil.
Fill it with a good qualityorganic potting mix, and smooth the soil.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
Care and Maintenance
Don’t let the soil dry out.
Mist daily, keeping the soil moist but not wet.
You should see sprouts pop up in about three to seven days.
The Spruce / Heidi Kolsky
If you have rich soil in yourgarden bed, you won’t need to fertilize.
Microgreens grow for such a short period they are rarely bothered by pests and diseases.
However, if you are growing brassicas in your mix (mustard, kale, etc.
The Spruce / K. Dave
), andcabbage wormsare a problem, consider adding a floating row cover to protect them.
Harvesting
The first leaves you’ll see are seed leaves.
They don’t look like the true leaves of the plant.
To harvest, snip the microgreens just above the soil level.
You won’t get additional harvests from one planting of microgreens.
You don’t even need to remove the old roots; they are good sources of organic matter.
To get the most nutritional benefits, eat microgreens raw.
Cooking microgreens reduces their bitter taste but also reduces vitamin content.
They may look similar, but sprouts and microgreens are different plants.
Sprouts grow quickly in water, don’t need light, and are meant to be entirely eaten.
In other words, if you don’t cut microgreens, the plant will die from extreme stress.
