How to Grow Microgreens

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How and why to grow microgreens in your kitchen
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Microgreens are all the rage lately. They are similar to sprouts, but require soil and sunlight (or a grow light) to grow.

What are Microgreens?

As the name suggests, microgreens are just miniature plants of greens, herbs, or other vegetables. Like sprouts, they are a concentrated nutrient source and packed with beneficial enzymes because of their rapid growth.

Though they are often seen in dishes at gourmet restaurants because of their delicate flavor and sophisticated presentation, they are simple to grow on your own and cost very little once you have the supplies. With the right tools, you can have a year-round vegetable source on your kitchen counter.

Microgreens also solve the problem of the potential for bacteria growth in sprouts (though it is very rare) because they are grown in an open-air environment and in soil. Unlike sprouts, only the stem and leaves are eaten, not the seed and root.

What to Grow?

The most common plants used for growing microgreens are:

  • Lettuce
  • Kale
  • Spinach
  • Radish
  • Beet
  • Watercress
  • Herbs
  • Greens
  • Cabbage
  • Mustard
  • Chia
  • Sunflower
  • Buckwheat

Any edible plant that is entirely edible (root to leaves) can technically used, but the ones above are the most common and taste the best. Microgreens add beautiful color and great flavor to salads and are an excellent garnish for meats and other dishes.

Microgreen Growing Supplies:

How to Grow Microgreens:

  1. Find a south-facing window with plenty of sunlight or install an inexpensive growlight. I’ve found that a growlight mounted under kitchen cabinets works perfectly for growing greens on the counter if you have the space to do it. In warmer months, these can also be easily grown outside.
  2. Place an inch of organic potting soil in the bottom of a shallow tray or planter and smooth out to be as even as possible. Alternately, clear an area of your garden for growing microgreens.
  3. Scatter seeds over the surface of the soil evenly. You will spread more seeds than you would if just planting the seeds to grow to full size, since they will only get 1-2 inches tall and you want to harvest as many as possible from each tray. TIP: Soaking the seeds overnight will speed sprouting time, but make it more difficult to scatter them.
  4. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil and spray the surface with clean, filtered water. I use an upcycled glass vinegar bottle with a misting spray top.
  5. Place on the warming mat, if using, and under the grow light or near the window.
  6. Mist the seeds a couple of times a day to keep the soil evenly moist while waiting for the seeds to germinate.
  7. Greens are usually ready to harvest in 2-4 weeks, depending on the type of seed used.
  8. To grow another crop, either remove the roots and replant or dump the entire tray in the compost and fill with more soil to replant. If you dump in the compost, some straggler seeds usually volunteer and make a crop of their own a few weeks later.

To use: Cut microgreens right above soil level with kitchen shears. Rinse with filtered water and add to salads or to garnish almost any dish.

Ever grown anything inside?

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

50 responses to “How to Grow Microgreens”

  1. Steve Avatar

    Typo
    Cover the seeds with a think layer of soil and spray the surface with clean, filtered water. I use an upcycled glass vinegar bottle with a misting spray top.

    I think you mean thin

  2. ronda Avatar

    please correct typo below. is it thin or thick?

    Cover the seeds with a think layer of soil and spray the surface with clean, filtered water. I use an upcycled glass vinegar bottle with a misting spray top.

  3. Lera Avatar

    Actually, they don’t even need soil – I use regular wet paper towel inside any container, covered loosely with a lid for green house effect. just spread the seeds on top of towel, make sure the towel stays wet – mess free and fly free.

  4. Laura Avatar

    Do you need to discard the seed and root? Is there a reason not to just eat the whole thing? Especially if using for juice or a smoothy. Thanks.

  5. Yasmijn Avatar
    Yasmijn

    Our supermarket just had a huge marketing stunt where you got a little food garden with every 15€ you spent. They were basically little pots with soil and seed paper. There were lots of different ones and some are now on my mantel happily growing. However as I have no intention of growing huge broccolis and such in my tiny appartment, I wondered which would be good as micro greens. Would it for instance be possible to eat micro leek? And what exactly do you mean by greens? (Sometimes my english vocab. is not sufficiant)
    Thanks a bunch!

    1. Katie - Wellness Mama Avatar

      Technically any plant that is edible as a whole when grown (lettuces, kale, broccoli, etc or onions, leeks, etc) would be fine to eat as a micro green. It just means that the plant is consumed when still small.

  6. Charlotte Avatar
    Charlotte

    Pogonia, you don’t really need an expensive grow light- try using one of the cheap clamp lights from a home improvement store and put in the highest wattage CFL (compact flourescent light) that you can get a hold of and keep it just a few inches from the seedbed on a timer for 14 or 16 hours a day and you should be good to go for under $20. Do pay attention to the color of the light, a natural daylight or cool white will work much better than a warm color. I have a 23 watt/ 100 watt equivelant (It uses 23 watts but puts out light equivelant to a 100 watt incandescant) bulb for my seed starting, I’d hoped for a 150 equivelant but this is working pretty well so far.

  7. chris Avatar

    I’m trying to figure out if the seeds have to be labeled ‘microgreens’ or if regular seeds can be used.

    1. Danielle Horton Avatar
      Danielle Horton

      Any seeds will do, they do not have to specifically labeled microgreens. 🙂

    2. Danielle Avatar
      Danielle

      Awesome article Katie! We grow microgreens for retailers out in California and we love seeing people getting their hands dirty and growing their own produce!!! Great content 🙂

  8. Lisa Hawkins Avatar
    Lisa Hawkins

    Super keen on this idea! 🙂 A question regarding thyroid health though… If we are encouraged to cook veggies that contain goitrogens (kale, spinach, cabbage etc) and the nutrients are more concentrated in sprouts, would the effects on the thyroid be increased as well? Or do the goitrogens become active later in the plant’s life cycle? 🙂

    1. Katie - Wellness Mama Avatar

      That is a tough question and from what my doctor has said, it really depends on the type of thyroid problem. For most people, we’d have to eat such a huge amount of greens to even get close to a dangerous level, that it is fine. Also, if a person has autoimmune thyroid disease (which is most people, even if it isn’t diagnosed) goitrogens are not a problem, but iodine can be a really big problem. I avoided cruciferous veggies for years and took iodine, which made me so much worse. I’ve felt tremendously better since eating more greens and avoiding iodine supplements like the plague. Long story short- each person is different, but I don’t worry about these at all. if you are worried, sprout lettuce, beets and other safe ones 🙂

  9. Julie Avatar

    Do you need to use micro green seeds or are regular organic lettuce seeds ok? I have organic butter lettuce growing on my counter right now. They are a few inches tall right now. Are these considered micro greens?

  10. Shanti Avatar

    Thanks for posting this. I was looking to grow micro greens and had no easy ideas. Do the greens regrow after cutting and using them or do we have to sow the seeds again?

    1. Katie - Wellness Mama Avatar

      Most of the time they don’t. I just dump the roots in the compost though, and usually there are some seeds that hadn’t grown yet, so you get a compost harvest too a few weeks or months later 🙂

  11. Rita Avatar

    After you cut the greens, will anything continue to grow? Or do you just stir up the soil and plant new seeds?

    I’m a total gardening newbie, but I want to grow some things we can eat. I’ve only bought 3 tiny little starter pots I saw at walmart with basil, cilantro, and sunflowers and had them growing for about a month now. Just transplanted them into pint size pots and that is the extent of my gardening experience!

    1. Katie - Wellness Mama Avatar

      A few stragglers will, but I find it is better to pull out the roots and put in the compost so I can create a new crop inside and I end up harvesting some from the compost later on.

      1. Laura Avatar

        Also a total gardening newbie, the compost that you’re referring to, is that for another gardening project or something that can be used with future micro green growing?

  12. Alicia Avatar

    I had a micro basil salad that had olive oil n sea salt on it!!! Wow! So good!!!!

  13. Pogonia Avatar

    I have been interested in doing this for quite some time, but have NO windows to put them near. Hmmm, maybe save my pennies for a grow light. You have motivated me to think some more on it. 🙂

    1. Stacey Avatar

      You can buy shop lights for $11.99 at Walmart. Get the soft blue light bulbs, which are around $6.00. Don’t waste your money on an expensive hydroponic lamp, it’s not needed for microgreens! There’s a great APP for budget Microgreen growers, called ‘Microgreens’.

    2. Charles Avatar

      The ideal florescent size is a T5, but T8’s will work also. For growing vegetative crops, such as micro-greens, you will want cool white bulbs rated at 6500 or higher. Walmart sells a very inexpensive 18″ T-5 grow light for around $12.00. Another option is LED Amazon sells a 12″ square fixture, red and blue light for approximately $40. LED’s last for years, whereas florescent need to be replaced every 2-3 years. I use LED’s in my class at high school.

  14. Allen Root Avatar
    Allen Root

    Is there any special proceedures to start the second, or next batch? I love the idea of having home grown microgreens!

  15. Gaye Avatar

    You are amazing! I’ve been on this too and found sprouting to be difficult to maintain long term. I started using cardboard egg cartons with a pan under them to sprout micro greens, then throw cardboard egg carton with soil in compost ben after a couple of uses. I sometimes juice my greens as well as eat them. Just Personal preference.

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