Growing micro greens

So, all our greenhouse plants are dead dead dead (except for the onions), but that doesn't mean we can't still grow nutritious and beautifully green things in January! The January issue of Martha Stewart had an article on growing sprouts and micro greens, and of course i found it completely irresistible. I didn't want to go the easy route and grow sprouts, though, as they're on the list of things for pregnant women to avoid and I admit i follow that list to a T. Other than the not taking very warm of showers thing. I don't do lukewarm at all with this pregnancy.

Anyway. Micro greens sounded easy to grow, so i figured why not? All you need are some containers (old plastic spinach or strawberry containers work perfectly - just wash them well first), potting soil, and seeds. I bought mine from Johnny's Select Seeds - they had the biggest selection and were cheapest. If you just want to try it, i recommend a small, cheap pack of Botanical Interests micro greens seeds you can find on Amazon. But i went for the big packs and got 1/4 lb of arugula and 1/4 lb of beet micro green seeds (to split with my mom). That's enough to sow several months' worth of micro greens.

Currently i have three containers going and just started harvesting yesterday. It took probably a week and a half for the seedlings to get big enough, which is isn't bad. I have them set up under a grow light, but that's because my kitchen doesn't get a ton of sunlight. If you have a sunny window you can put them in front of, that should be enough.

Martha didn't say this, but keep your seeds covered! They need a bit of a greenhouse effect. I found this out when the seedlings i had in berry containers (with the fold-down ventilated lids) were the first to have good growth. As soon as i stuck a piece of saran wrap over the spinach container, those seeds started to take off, too. Now the seedlings are too big to cover with lids, but i still have a saran wrap tent over them.

My seeds aren't growing as thickly as the ones in MS, but i'm sure i planted them more haphazardly. And even though the yield is pretty tiny, i think it's worth it for the satisfaction of fresh-grown greens in the coldest month of the year! Once this batch is finished, I'll definitely plant more.