DOWNLOAD NOW » MICROGREENS A Guide to Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens DUBBED A CULINARY BUZZWORD by National Public Radio, microgreens-vegetables harvested soon after sprouting-are expected to be one of 2009's hottest food trends. With simple instruction, Microgreens teaches how to plant, grow, and harvest microgreens from one's own garden.
English Jan 5, 2015 ISBN: 176 Pages EPUB/MOBI/AZW3/PDF (Converted) 36 MBMicrogreens: The new superfood you grow in your own kitchen! Microgreens are young plants that are harvested a few weeks after germination.We've all heard of the nutritional virtues of kale, for example, but did you know that the microgreen versions of many plants hold anywhere from 4 to 50 times the nutrients per volume as the same plants in mature form? Microgreens truly are the new superfood.Download.
Quick Navigation.There’s nothing better than having access to fresh, nutrient-dense salad greens that practically grow themselves, right?I can already hear you saying, “Yeah, that’d be nice, if they existed”Well, they do, and they’re called.Practically any plant can be grown as a microgreens, which is just the even-younger cousin of baby greens. MaterialsBefore we get into what you’ll need to grow lettuce microgreens, keep in mind these are just my recommendations to make the process a bit smoother. You can find a lot of these materials laying around your house as well, but if you want to invest in some equipment, here is what I recommend:. Seeds: I got my seeds from. Containers:. Growing Medium: A 50/50 mix of and ). Light: if growing indoors.
Bonus:PlantingYour first task is to prepare your trays properly. Don’t skimp out on the process hereproper tray prep will help you avoid all sorts of issues as your microgreens grow. My technique is to add 4 cups of water to the bottom of the tray, then fill with a 50/50 mix of coconut coir and a fine potting mix. You don’t want any large chunks of bark, stone, or other debris. The smoother and flatter the surface, the better!
Make sure you have a well-moistened, smooth soil surface.For lettuce mix, I recommend 1 ounce of seed, spread evenly over the surface. You can use an old herb shaker if you want extremely even spreading, but even a simple drinking glass will work well. Avoid any clumping of seeds or uneven distributionit’ll cause poor growth in those sections as the seeds germinate. Make sure to get even coverage across the entire tray.After you’re done spreading your seeds, mist the tray once more with your spray bottle and place another 1020 propagation tray on top. Leave it in a warm, dark area for 1-2 days, misting once or twice a day as needed.
Be sure to check your trays daily for signs of mold growth, which is one of the biggest issues with microgreen growing. GrowingAfter 2 days, most of your seeds should have germinated. Keep misting for another 2-4 days and grow your greens under the blackout dome.
This period is crucial to get the greens up to a specific height before you take the dome off and expose them to light.If you’re worried that your lettuce looks yellowdon’t be! Remember, it’s sunlight that turns a plant’s leaves green as it begins to photosynthesize. How the micros look 2-3 days after planting.
Yellow due to lack of light, which is intentional.After 4 days, you can take the blackout dome off and expose your greens to the light. Growing outdoors works just fine, but I prefer to keep mine indoors under LED lights to ensure I have a consistent environment for growing my microgreens. They will turn green after about 36 hours and will only keep growing taller and more healthy as you let them age! First sign of ‘true leaves’, indicating it’s a good time to harvest!You’ll know your lettuce microgreens are ready to harvest when you can see the first signs of “true leaves” develop. The first leaves that develop on your plants are actually the seed leavesthey were already formed inside the seed hull. This is why they don’t look like the normal leaves that would grow from a lettuce plant.You can either harvest when you see the first sign of true leaves, or wait until these true leaves grow up a bit. Your yield will increase, but so will the time it takes to grow your tray.
Harvesting Using small grass shears to harvest the tray evenly, without any dirt.There are many techniques for harvesting your microgreen trays. Some use knives, some use scissors, some commercial growers have specialized harvesting machinery. I find that grass shears work quite well, because the cutting blade is parallel to the surface of the tray. You can “mow down” your greens with ease.Take care not to pull the roots out of the soil, and make sure to sacrifice about 1/2″ of stem just to make sure you don’t accidentally harvest any debris or seed hulls. The last thing you want to do is have to wash your microgreens. It damages them slightly and also decreases their storage life by about 30%! The final resting place of these microsin a delicious salad next to some mushroom ravioli!Lettuce microgreens are dead-simple to grow and can be worked into a salad in absolutely no time at all.
I recommend these five ingredients for the quickest preparation possible:. Extra virgin olive oil.
Fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Grated Parmesan cheese. Salt. PepperThe olive oil and Parmesan cheese cut down on some of the spicier greens in the mix, adding a nice creaminess and fullness to the salad. Of course, feel free to add MUCH more to this saladit’s just a basic one to get you started.This post was sponsored by True Leaf Market, who provided the lettuce microgreen mix for me to test and grow.