Microgreens have been in the back of my mind for about a year now. I first discovered this interesting niche last year when watching videos on YouTube and it struck me as an amazingly simple way to make food in a small space. At the time I wanted to give it a go but, as with many things in life, I never got around to starting.
Then, last week, I watched the video I've posted at the end of this article and became re-inspired. If you have an hour to spare, I HIGHLY recommend the video if you're interested in starting out with microgreens. Winter is also coming - a time when growing crops outside slows to a halt so it seems the perfect time to start. And, with a couple of foodie friends who move in the right circles to spread the word about a microgreen enterprise, so it seems too good an opportunity to miss.
Setting Up
I already have a small growlight system; a £9 shelving unit from IKEA and some red/blue LED strip lights that cost £13 each. I haven't really put it to good use yet, though I did try some cuttings earlier on the year - not to a huge amount of luck I must say. I'm not yet convinced whether the red/blue will work as well as white but that's why this is all an experiment.
Then I bought some food grade HDPE trays from a catering firm (again, very cheap - £2 each from a catering firm), filled with an inch of water and coconut coir (£15 hanging basket liner from eBay) is used as the growing medium - no soil here!
Seeds
I opted to buy five seed varieties in small quantities so I could test things out; sunflower, radish, basil, amaranthe and kol rabi. Many of the popular seed catalogues in the UK are starting to stock microgreen seeds BUT they're expensive. Better to opt for a wholesaler if you want better prices. I opted for CN Seeds - good quality seeds that are untreated (I don't want any chemicals used) and were very reasonably prices. My entire batch of seeds cost £15 and will provide enough for several growing attempts.
For the first round I'm trying the sunflowers, radish and amaranthe. I have NO idea about spacing on the coir - I suspect it should be fairly packed. After all, these are microgreens not fully developed plants.
Germination
So after simply laying the seeds out across the damp coir, the trays get covered to stimulate germination. The trays are stackable and I'd been intended on doing just that. However, being white plastic it means it's semi transparent, so I've covered in cardboard instead.
And there's the experiment. I honestly have no idea what to expect and what I'm doing, but that's the fun of gardening, right?! So I'm excited to the seeds sprout and see where this adventure leads. I'll update when there's signs of green!
John explores City-Hyrdo, a Baltimore based microgreens farm.