Microgreens one of the latest crazes, and like many I rushed out and bought a kit, and seeds. I then discovered that none of my window sills were wide enough for said kit and had to use my valuable bench space. Well to cut a long story short that craze didn’t last long for me.
I then concentrated on a patch of garden near the back door, sowing Amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor), Salad Burnet, Miners Lettuce, Ice Plant, Mustard (Brassica juncea), and Corn Salad.
Green & Red Amaranth – planted seed mid December and eating as baby leaf by 15th January.
Amaranth is great in summer as it is heat tolerant. Salad Burnet (perennial), Mustard, and Ice Plant will survive all year if protected. Miners lettuce is best grown in winter, it will self seed and regrow in following years if left alone. Corn Salad is another ‘green’ for winter. If treated as baby greens, most of these plants will be providing within 30-40 days.
What has this to do with microgreens you ask? Well, the other day hubby was thinning the garden when he realised he had a handful of microgreens! So forget the kits, forget the various seed packets and simply plant more of your seeds than you usually would, plant them close together and then as they rear their lovely green heads, thin gently and use to brighten salads etc. Many will be ready to ‘thin’ within 2-3 weeks. Try to harvest once the plant has only 2-4 true leaves. (see below)
This bed has carrot and beetroot that could be thinned.
All of the plants in my baby leaf patch could be thinned this way and the following is a list of other plants we use this way, although in no way is the list complete.
- Basil
- Beetroot
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Peas
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Radish
- Kohlrabi
- Turnip
- Carrot
Cotyledons and true leaves: When a seed germinates the first 2 leaves are the cotyledons and often still have remnants of the seed pod attached. The cotyledons provide all the nutrient the seedling needs until it develops its first true leaves.
I planted too many cabbage seeds, so 6 of them will go into the garden and the other 5 will be in a salad in a day or 2. In the punnet on the right you can see the cotyledons and one true leaf.
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