Basically, these are just baby plants, harvested after the first set of bitty leaves have emerged. They are fantastically awesome, not only because tiny things are just cuuuuute, but also because they're scrumptious and great for you (so many of my favorite things!). They are super high in antioxidants and anti-carcinogenic properties, packed with vitamins, and concentrated with nutrients.
The overarching umbrella of microgreens covers all manner of leafy greens and herbs, like spinach, kale, arugula, beets, radishes, swiss chard, or basil, cilantro, parsley, and chives... to name a few.
Nutritionfacts does a great comparison, saying, "Microgreens won hands down (leaves down?), possessing significantly higher nutrient densities than mature leaves. For example, red cabbage microgreens have a 6-fold higher vitamin C concentration than mature red cabbage and 69 times the vitamin K."
Um, yuhhhmmmm.
Even WebMD has been won over, sharing that microgreens can have up to 40 times the vital nutrients of the grown-up versions.
Lucky for us, the flavor is just as concentrated as the nutrients, so a little goes a long way with these little critters. Try a few sprigs on your omelet, toss a handful into a salad, top a burger, or add them to smoothies. Anything greens can do, microgreens can do better... you know, within reason.
Now obviously, you can buy these little suckers, but why do that when they're so easy to sprout? Chances are you already have everything on hand that you need. You can get fancy set-ups online, but that takes away from your bottom line... and isn't in the thrifty Little House spirit! Really, you just need a container, some soil, and seeds. Simple.
PLUS, they're done in just a week, maybe two. Great for those of us who may not be the most patient gardeners, you know, like kids... or me.
I got a bunch of seed packets to use in my container gardening, but since each pot can only hold one plant, I'm using only a small percentage of seeds from the packet. (Except the broccoli.... that one keeps getting dug up by the neighborhood Bird Bully, and I keep replanting. Must research bird deterrents. Running out of broccoli seeds.) Microgreens sprouting is a great use of the rest of those little guys.
To start, prep your growing space! I chose a Fage container that had just been emptied (By My Bellyyyy), and washed it out super good with super hot water and super strong soap.
Mmm, Fage... I've taken to mixing in chopped up pistachios and dark chocolate chunks for an afternoon snack... but I digress.
You need a few drainage holes so that you don't drown your seeds. (Help meeeee...) That would be sad. I used my trusty IKEA hammer and poked a few holes with a nail. The yogurt lid makes a delightful drainage tray, just so you know. It's like they designed it with repurposing in mind!
Next, gather you seeds! As we now know, you can use just about anything to sprout some microgreens. Sprouts are not microgreens! Microgreens are grown in soil, sprouts are grown with water. Just FYI. Different things are going to have different flavors, so it stands to reason that if you like it when it's big, you're going to like it when it's small. I did a big combination of things (with only a little bit of broccoli. Those seeds are important now, guys.)
If you soak your seeds in warm water for an hour, it's going to hasten germination... not that we're impatient or anything. Not me. Never.
Fill your container with soil, and spread you seeds out on top. Add a thin layer of soil (thin, like a quarter inch at most. Thinnnnn. Giselle soil, right here.)
You can keep your container inside until your little guys start to pop up, they won't need sunlight until then. After that, they'll do great on a windowsill, or if you have Evil Cats like me, a nice sunny spot outside will do nicely.
You'll start seeing things soon! (I think this was about four days in.) Then just let them grow until they reach the height/size that suits your fancy. Snip them off at the soil line a few at a time as needed, or harvest the entire container and have a mircogreens-a-palooza!
Then rinse and repeat!
...just don't go out of town for a week to help your parents move and forget about your microgreens. Otherwise, your friendly cat-sitter will continue to water them, they'll continue to grow, and you'll end up with Microgreen Forest, which are then just plants.
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