A high-end option that began in 1990 to salads found only in specialty or gourmet markets are a variety of young and tender edible crops like lettuce, greens, herbs and beets. Not the same as sprouts, they are grown at a very high density indoors and harvested within two to three weeks at the first sign of true leafage. Microgreens can have a sweet, strong or mild flavor considering their small size and can be grown at home indoors or outside.
Delicate and fresh
Microgreens add the element of creative presentation to your dishes and a fresh flavor accent. The novelty of adding fresh microgreens to your salad quickly dies off due to the fact they can’t hold their flavor for long in the bags they come in. Once they are picked and placed in the bag their vibrancy deadens by growing your own you can keep your fresh greens growing and alive right up until dinner time assuring the quality and nutrition of your meals.
Microgreen seeds and soil
To grow indoors in pots or seed trays any time during the winters. Seeds are purchased at any hardware or garden variety store. Any good potting soil that is light and an area that is airy, good ventilation and gets sunlight will increase the vigor, flavor and color. Microgreens can be grown under artificial lights but the flavor will not be as intense and defining. Outdoors than can be grown in any good friable soil starting in the cool spring or in a greenhouse or cold frame in the winter months.
- Cress,
- lettuces,
- cabbages,
- mustard greens,
- daikon radish,
- radishes,
- kale,
- bok choi,
- kohlrabi,
- arugula,
- beets,
- sorrel,
- chard,
- scallions,
- amaranth,
- chards,
- spreen,
- purslane,
- basil,
- komatsuna,
- orach,
- carrots,
- fennel.
What is a microgreen
A microgreen is a seedling having a central main stem and usually just two but as many a four leaves and is cut at the top of the soil. So planting every two to three weeks becomes necessary to maintain your salad variety depending on the size of the patch you are growing and how often you eat them.
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