Growing Micro-greens
 

I recently read about micro greens and it sounds great, especially since I live in a rather rural area away from stores. This means fresh vegs, especially salad greens, in the winter are a treat. I've grown sprouts and, in fact, just started a few the other day, but I have never tried the micro greens so I have a few questions...

1. Do you need to use organic soil or can I just use potting soil I have on hand?

2. Have you found a reputable place to purchase seeds? If so, where? I probably need to purchase on line although there is a health food store about an hour from us and they may have some seeds. I know I can get sprout seeds there.

3. I have a can of Chia seeds we purchased to use for sprinkling on salads, cereal, etc. but not for the purpose of growing. Has anyone ever tried growing these? I called company and they said they didn't know if they would grow or not.

I have read you can eat roots and all on microgreens. Do you agree?

Any tips or thoughts on this topic would be appreciated. I'm sure others will find it interesting, too, especially if they haven't heard of microgreens. Thank you!

Very interesting! I've never heard of microgreens, but your question got me so interested I googled it and found several websites with great information. I might have to try this! :)

One thing I wanted to mention. You CAN stock up on fresh lettuces, spinach, salad-type stuff by storing it in canning jars with the air sucked out. I find this is a fabulous way to pack healthy lunches and cut down on prep time for dinners.

Here's a helpful tutorial: http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/how-to...lad-in-a-jar-2

Peggy,
That is a neat idea. I have found some of the packaged salad mixes keep at least a week. I know they are more expensive but I like that they have such a good variety of greens in ones like the spring mix or spring mix with herbs. Also, I have buy just one package rather than 2 or 3 pkgs of the loose to get the variety and since there is just my husband and I now, the package works well. I will pass this jar idea on to my daughter in law who takes her lunch each day. Thanks for the response.
Carol

That is a great idea. I bet you could use the small 1/2 pint jars and fill with chopped or shredded vegetable to add to the salad as well.

Thanks for posting this. I've passed it on to some of my family.

For those who aren't familiar with micro greens, they are really just tiny, baby plants. You plant the seeds in a small amount of soil and let them grow. Once they have one or two sets of leaves, you can cut them and use them in your salad or for whatever you want. It normally takes less than two weeks.

I would recommend using organic or untreated seeds for this. I have read lots but haven't tried it yet. I have grown sprouts on the past so I figured this would be another way to have some fresh vegs in the winter. I just got a bag of organic soil at Walmart for $2. so tomorrow I am going to plant some beet seeds. I have leftover Burpee seeds from my garden and they have assured me they don't treat their seeds. It also says online that they don't use chemicals. I figure soon I will have some beet greens to add to my salad despite the fact temps are going down in the teens tonight.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]447171[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]447172[/ATTACH] OK - I tried the microgreens and for those of you who might be interested, here are a couple pictures. The first is just in an old bowl and they are chia. We actually had some chia seeds which we bought to add to salads, cereal and other things but we didn't buy them to plant. However, they grew great. They are a bit tastier than I usually like in my salad but add to the variety.

The second container is an assortment of microgreens I bought from Harris Seed Co. There are supposed to be about eight different greens - kale, arugula, and some lettuces I think. They are ready for cutting in about 2 weeks. Ii planned to just pull them out but soil seems to really stick to roots and isn't always easy to wash off so I switched to cutting.