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Indoor Microgreens

With things getting colder and colder outside this time of year it’s getting harder and harder to produce much food in the garden. For those that don’t have a greenhouse, or that live in an area where even a layer of protection or two from the cold is not enough, you might want to consider growing microgreens inside near your windows. Microgreens are not special plants that stop growing after they get only a few inches, they are just normal plants that are harvested early, shortly after sprouting.

Why Grow Microgreens

Microgreens can be grown inside during the cold season
Microgreens are nutrient dense
Microgreens are incredibly easy to grow

How to Grow Microgreens

First, select plants that work well for the process. Radishes, beans, salad greens, and chia are commonly used for microgreens.
Get any shallow wide container. You don’t need, or want a lot of depth since the plants will be harvest while they are still young, but you do want enough space to grow a lot of seeds since each one will not amount to much food. If possible, select a container that will allow for bottom watering to keep from bending over the young shoots and getting them dirty.
Normal potting soil is all you need, but if you have extra perlite available, you can use only perlite for cleaner harvests.
Sprinkle seeds over the soil densely, you want much more than you would normally sow since they do not require any room to grow to maturity and since each one will not provide much food.
In most cases you do not need to cover the seeds, except for some seeds like chia which like a thin covering like a moist paper towel.
When they are a few inches tall you can harvest them. You can cut them with scissors or you can pull them out with the roots still attached and rinse off the dirt.

Microgreens can be added to green juice, salads, or sandwiches. They are as dense in taste as they are in nutrients. Because of the amount of seeds necessary, I would suggest buying them in bulk food from your local health food store and not in seed packets since the cost will be too high. Good luck!

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