Growing Microgreens Refresher

Now that the holiday decorations are out of the way, I finally had room to set up a grow light so I could start growing microgreens for the winter. If you haven’t heard of microgreens or vaguely recall my mentioning this last winter, I think a “growing microgreens refresher” is in order!

Put simply, this involves thickly sowing vegetable or herb seeds and harvesting them as very young seedlings (usually with just a couple of true leaves) and use for salad greens or additions to other dishes.

The great news about microgreens is that research has shown they are anywhere from 4 to 40 (!) times more nutritious than their mature form. That is amazing and something we should all take advantage of, especially in the dead of winter.

I shot a video on growing microgreens in February 2018 and it has been viewed over 85,000 times! Who knew this would be such a popular topic but gardeners are smart folks, right? Here’s the video:

Since one uses a lot of seeds, I prefer to buy mine in bulk so I get the best deal. Check with your local garden center first to see if they carry microgreens seeds. Here are some online sources as well: SproutPeople, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Burpee, True Leaf Market, Eden Brothers, and High Mowing Organic Seeds.

And one last thing, since I get asked this a LOT. Folks want to know where I got my half-sized seedling flats. Well, it’s kind of a funny story: I found them at our local garden center (NW Seed & Pet) a couple of years ago. However, they were ordered by mistake so it’s not something they ordinarily carry! But at the time, I knew a good thing when I saw it so I bought at least 4 of them.

Up until now, I haven’t been able to locate them for readers who have asked. But just now, I discovered that True Leaf Market sells them in packs of 5 for $10. If you happen to find similar ones at other sources, make sure you’re buying ones with drainage holes… or make sure you put drainage holes into the bottom of each one since drainage is very important when it comes to seed-starting.

OK, get out there and get some microgreens growing! And if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com.