Microgreens!!

Microgreens. We love them. The are a fulfilling and exciting adventure. It is so satisfying to grow them. The green growing food and bright grow lights are so nice! 

We use 1 inch deep trays. You can buy them from many places. You want them to be shallow so you use less dirt. But can still cut it at the base of the tray. If your dirt isn't level with the top you have a hard time cutting them. Johnny seeds sells them. My internet is too slow moving for my time today. So I won't be adding links. 

We buy miracle grow potting soil. It claims to be organic. It is the best we can buy locally. And is $9 a bag. It does at least 10 trays. But I keep using it for other things also. So I don't have a accurate number for you. 

We weigh our seeds so we don't over plant our trays. The sunflower and peas have to soak overnight. We do this in half gallon jars. Draining and planting the next morning. 

These are radish seeds. I'm still trying to learn the 'evenly spaced' concept. But it doesn't have to be perfect. 

I then water them. Put a Unbleached wet paper towels on the top. For a couple reasons. 

1: keeps them moist longer (most important thing in germinating seeds!) 

2: we stack the trays so this keeps seeds from sticking to the bottom of the other trays. 

Radish seeds. We use 1 oz on a standard tray. 

I then invert a extra tray on the top to help keep out the light. They are watered every morning. And kept in the dark until they start leaves. But I unstack trays once they sprout. 

We had them in our bedroom at first. But it was too crowded. So we moved them to the dining room. Lights need to be about 9 inches from the shelf below. (8 inches from tray top.) 

  The bulbs we use are sylvania 6500k t8. We bought a case from the hardware store. 

The costs involved: 

The shelf from SAMs club. $100

Seeds: $3.50-50.00 a lb

Shop lights $15 each

Bulbs: under $30 a case. 

Trays: 5 for $17.30 (johnnys seeds)

Paper towel: $27 for a massive case. But tea towels work too. Just bleach between uses. Also bleach your trays. 

Watering can: we already had. But I want one with a longer neck so I don't have to take the trays off to water. 

This is a collage of pictures Patrick made.  Some ready to cut. Others close. 

I water every morning. 

Plant Sunday's and Wednesday's. 

And cut twice a week as needed. 

Arugula ready to cut. 

Even the baby loves them. 

Pea tendrils. I think they are lovely! 

I have a Tupperware salad spinner. I really like it. Not a fan of plastic but don't think I can get away with anything else here. It works very well. 

Radishes. Day 4. 

Sunflowers drying after being washed and spun. Wisdom embroidered this tea towel for me. I love it! We store the microgreens in a gallon jar covered with a  square of fabric and a rubber band as they must be able to breath. In the fridge of course. 

We grow 6 trays a week. 3 planted twice a week. And we are able to have a salad a day on that. 

   We dump our dirt in a raised bed after each harvest. The chickens tear it to bits and we are building up our beds over the winter. Generally Wisdom is the one to run the tray out as we are currently filling her garden With the dirt. 

   I hope this blog post is helpful. And I have answered all questions. I've been intrupted many times. 

   Also I can't check comments currently so ask me elsewhere. I'll then make another post if needed.