For a winter gardening project with a gourmet touch, try growing microgreens
Microgreens have been popping up as garnishes at high-end restaurants, but they’re more than just a gourmet trick of the trade.
The 2-to-3-inch seedlings of edible plants, which add a burst of color and flavor to food, are packed with nutrients and can make for a fun winter gardening project.
At an average retail price of about $30 per tray, the little nutritional powerhouses can be prohibitively expensive to buy. But growing your own at home is cheap, quick and easy.
You’ll need a dome-covered seed-starting tray, or a roughly 2-inch-deep plastic lidded takeout container with holes poked in its bottom for drainage; a drip tray or rimmed baking sheet to collect drained water; seed-starting potting mix; a spray bottle; a sunny window and, of course, seeds. A grow light and a small fan are recommended but optional.
Which seeds?
Many catalogs and garden centers sell mixed microgreen seed packs that contain a variety of seeds selected and combined for their synchronized germination times. You can buy those or mix your own batch from new or leftover seeds. Or grow just a single variety. It’s up to you.
If mixing seeds yourself, select ones that will sprout at the same time. Arugula, broccoli, cabbage, kale, mustards, mizuna, nasturtium and radish are among the fastest growers, typically germinating in a week or less. Beets, chards and nasturtiums should sprout in 10-14 days, while parsley and dill can take up to three weeks.
Do not grow microgreens of nightshade vegetables, such as eggplant, ground cherry, pepper, potato, tomatillo or tomato. Their leaves contain toxic alkaloids, so should not be consumed.
Watch them grow
Fill your seed tray with the seed-starting potting mix and moisten it with water, then sprinkle a moderately dense layer of seeds over the mix. Press them into the soil with your fingers but don’t bury them.
Spray the seeds and the soil’s surface with water, then place the domed lid or plastic cover over the container, slightly askew. If you don’t have a lid or cover, lightly lay plastic wrap