Today I begin experimenting with indoor microgreen growing. Microgreens are just the shoots of edible plants, grown tightly packed together so as to be harvested at that stage. They are extremely nutritious. There's all kinds of things you can grow as microgreens, too. You can even grow things as microgreens that you wouldn't think to eat otherwise. Sunflower shoots, for example.
My imagination is running wild already. Imagine a world where every home had its own vertical microgreen farm, perhaps automated to be on a constant rotation of sowing and reaping (and eating). There'd be no more need for supermarkets.In the meantime, I decided to begin with pea shoots, since they're supposedly one of the easiest to grow. I've taken my lead from a number of articles, such as this and this and proceeded as follows.
One bag of dried peas, soaked overnight:
They will expand to about double their original size, so you need to use enough water to allow for this. I've just used my saucepan because it's big, and it's clean.
As providence would have it, on my way home I came across a discarded fruit tray, which I nabbed, placed a black bag on the bottom, and filled with about an inch of nice, smelly compost:
This morning I took the soaked peas and spread a layer over the compost. There's some discussion on what are the 'best' peas to use (organic, non-GMO, specially prepared for microgreen growing, etc) but it's perfectly possible to use standard dried peas you can get in any supermarket. I found 500g in Tesco for 70p. That was more than enough to cover the tray, leaving some I might make into soup later.
You need a single layer of peas, and it's quite alright to have them packed this closely together. They aren't going to grow into full plants, remember, so normal considerations of spacing are no required.
Finally, I've covered the peas with a thin layer of compost, like so:
Again, there's some discussion of best, most productive methods - whether to cover with compost at all, whether to cover the tray and leave in semi-darkness, and so on - but I'm keeping it simple for now, taking copious notes as I go. There's a Facebook group, Growing and Selling Microgreens and plenty of blogs, pages and articles on this interesting subject out there. Here's a few:
Easy Guide to Growing Microgreens at themicrogardener.com46 Best Veggies, Herbs & Microgreens for Vertical Planting at naturallivingideas.com
Step Up Your Garden Game By Growing Microgreens Indoors at Better Homes and Gardens
Explore and enjoy - and most of all, grow your own. The world needs a lot more plants in it. Without plants we'd all be dead. Think about that, and enjoy your Sunday.
Day Two is here.
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