Garden tips on microgreens

Garden tips to grow mircogreens

If you lack outdoor space but hanker for a home harvest, this garden tips on how to grow microgreens might just be the project for you. Ditto if you're prone to sowing untold sachets of seeds but forgetting to plant them out.

Microgreens, aka densely planted edible seedlings, are favoured by chi-chi chefs the world over for their bijou good looks and sharp punctuations of flavours. Hot-off-the-Bunsen burner research from the

University of Maryland in the US suggests that at least some of them are veritable superfoods too. So what's not to like?

When I was investigating exactly how many microgreens I could grow for $20 I was lucky enough to meet Auckland-based microgreens guru and author of the excellent How to Grow Microgreens: Nature's Own Superfood, Fionna Hill. It's safe to say few people know as much about microgreens as Fionna, nor are as

genuinely enthusiastic: "I've always got some on the go," she says. "It's two years since I did the book, but I still just love them." Fionna's not alone in her affection for them - her book has been published in five languages and we've got three copies to be won.

Grden tips on what kind of microgreens to grow? The obvious  microgreens choices might be salad-y sorts of things but just about anything with edible leaves can be grown and used this way. My pick for

affordability and trouble-free growth are brassicas - cultivar irrespective. In optimum conditions almost all

germinate overnight, ready for picking in less than a week. But that's me. You'll have your own faves depending on personal taste, time of year and budget.

Garden tips on budget for grow microgreens

Speaking of budget, regular seed packs arc not the best pick for microgreens. You'd need several packets for a modest- sized planting and costs would spiral. I sourced most of the seed I used from bulk-bins (although be aware that seed intended for human consumption is often heat treated, see over) or collected

it in my garden. The only other cost was $7 on a 5L bag of seed-raising mix. Although I blew most of my budget on seeds, I only planted a third of them.

There are only so many microgreens you can eat before the remainder graduate onto 'macrogreens' and,

eventually, 'desperately-pot-bound-and- no-longer-very-green-greens' status.

Heat treatment garden tips on grow microgreens

Depending on country of origin, many seeds (particularly pulses and legumes) intended for consumption are heat treated as part of the entry requirements to New Zealand. This destroys any stowaway pest and plant

pathogens but it also kills the seeds outright and, according to some, alters nutritional value too. Not so good. Non-heat treated seeds are usually labelled as such, if they're not marked non-heat treated, best assume they won't germinate. If you don't feel like gambling on bulk bins - and who could blame you - Kings Seeds supply plumply full packs of microgreen seed blends.

Synchronisation

Before you get too carried away sowing great trays full of microgreens seeds you'll need to check up on the germination times for each variety, if you plant slow-starters like celery together with speed-racers like radish, the latter will have a good head start on the former and hopelessly crowd them out. The same garden tips applies to microgreens seed size - very large seeds like those of peas produce bigger seedlings than rocket, and although they both germinate within a day the beans will start off bigger than the rocket and will

continue to build on that lead.

Starting off to grow microgreens

The best growing medium for microgreens is seed-raising mix (it's what I used), but this is not necessarily the cheapest. Fionna Hill says she often uses regular potting mix: "just look for one that isn't too coarse. The

nutrient level isn't very important because as microgreens the plants mostly rely on the food within the seed".

Seeds for microgreens should be sown thickly. You don't need to worry about overcrowding, in fact that's exactly the effect you're after. Cover vmicrogreens seeds with a thin layer of the growing medium and water carefully. To avoid seeds being washed into clumps, use a spray bottle for watering rather than a jug. Legume and brassica seeds will get their acts together much faster if you soak them overnight before sowing.

Garden tips on harvesting microgreens

There isn't really any official size limit when it comes to microgreens, but somewhere between a sprout and an established seedling is the rough definition. For repeat harvesting trim your micros with scissors slightly above the first set of leaves. You might get another picking or two depending on the species, but most people treat each plant as a one-hit wonder, with an ongoing programme of sowing guaranteeing supply.

Apart from looking gorgeous on the plate, microgreens are startlingly flavoursome. Some, like radishes, are surprisingly hot, while beetroot and silverbeet have a dark, salty quality and onions are sweet and oniony without the pervasive sweatiness of their grown-up counterparts. I must admit I didn't approach this story with an entirely open mind. I wasn't convinced about microgreens, but having grown and wolfed down quite a few now I'm starting to get it. They're great. Inoffensive at the very least (like lettuce) but sometimes quite exquisite (radish, rocket, lentils, beets, mung beans...).

Uses for mocrogreens

You could certainly cook microgreens, I suppose, but it would be a bit odd. They're just so alive, it seems wrong to wilt, braise or fry them. Pick them, clean them and find their perfect partners, I say. Radish, mustard and other spicy kinds love a bit of roast beef and a smear of horseradish mayo, microbeans and peas make a fine addition to spicy Asian soups, floated on the surface at the last minute. Microbean greens of most varieties are the business as the basis for a Tha i-style salad too - think fish sauce, chilli, lime juice and roasted peanuts.

Fionna offers plenty of tips for using microgreens in her book but says her favourite recipes tend to be the simplest ones: "I just love a handful of baby rocket or radish greens sprinkled over a good scrambled egg. Just beautiful." She's right, you know, I tried it. Since my hens resumed laying a few weeks ago, creamy scrambled eggs (as in fresh cream, butter and greed) with a scattering of piquant microgreens has been a favourite lunch.

As a floral art designer Fionna has an eye for a fetching table setting and says microgreens can be a knock-out in this regard too. I plan to continue to grow them. Microgreens: great value, great fun and some damn fine eating too.

What microgreens I grew

1 Radish I grew radish... and then more, because I liked it a lot. Quick, easy and hot.

2 Red cabbage Levelled by root-rot (possibly cat-pee related).

3 Red basil Grew very slowly because l planted it way too early (as in winter), but it tasted predictably grand - eventually.

4 Lentils Popped up promptly and were lovely wee things. Feathery and sweet.

5 Mung beans Crunchy and sweet and probably the fastest microgreens I grew. 6 Red mustard very spicy indeed and, like all brassicas, a piece of cake to get started.

7 Lettuce what's there to say about lettuce? 

8 Beetroot and silverbeets Savoury and supple, if a bit slow to start.

9 Mesclun Kale Blend The only packet mix I used (from Kings Seeds). Well balanced and zingy, with mostly coordinated germination times.

10 Onion Slow to get going and prone to collapsing under the lightest misting, onions weren't my greatest success. But with their spicy, sweet flavour I'll definitely try again.

Photos Sally Tagg

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