Nick Jones - Microgreens: How to Grow Microgreens for Fun or Profit

Microgreens are a new nutritional trend that is commonly being grown and eaten today. They are pretty simple when you actually look into what they are.

They are simply seedlings of plants. Microgreens are harvested before they have the chance to grow into a mature plant. They are typically harvested between one and three weeks after they emerge from their seed.

Popularity according to Google for the term microgreens

To give you a better example of what microgreens are like, lets compare microgreens and sprouts. Sprouts are a nutritionally dense food that has been commonly eaten for many years.

Sprouts are grown in a humid environment, for example in a sprouting jar. They are consumed before they reach the microgreen stage. No soil or growing media is used.

Sprouts

Microgreens are grown in soil or another growing media. Microgreens are also harvested from a much wider variety of plants than sprouts are.

Microgreens

Microgreens can be eaten on their own but typically people add them into their food as decoration. This is because the taste can be quite strong.

Some common ways that microgreens are consumed is in soups, salads, smoothies, and juices.

They can be added to salads, you can blend them to make a smoothie or turn them into a juice. There are many ways to use microgreens, so just about anyone can benefit from them.

Salad dressed with microgreens

Now that we know what microgreens are, lets investigate why you should consider growing them.

First, they are simply fun to grow. They can be grown indoors, where you can watch your seeds turn into healthy microgreens rather quickly.

They are small so they do not take up much space in your home. They are also very easy to grow. This is because you harvest microgreens so early that you do not need to worry about being able to keep the plant alive for long.

Microgreens are also great to grow because they are healthy superfoods. If you grow them in your home, you will always have them to throw on top of a salad or blend into a smoothie. It adds a convenient way to get extra vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients into your daily diet.

Another reason to grow microgreens is for the profit that they can make you. They have a fast turnaround because they grow so quickly and they have a good return on investment or ROI. Health-conscious people are willing to pay a premium for the already grown microgreens. We will investigate this information in greater detail in the second section of this book, though. For this section, we are going to focus on growing microgreens for fun.

Stall selling microgreens

Next, lets look deeper into some different terms and definitions that you will need to know before you start your journey with microgreens.

Sprouts

The first term that you will need to know about is sprouts. As we mentioned earlier, sprouts are like microgreens, but they are not the same thing. The first difference between these two superfoods is how each of them is grown. Sprouts are grown in humid conditions while microgreens are grown in soil or substrate.

The second difference is that sprouts and microgreens are harvested at different times in the growing cycle. Sprouts are harvested immediately after the seed sprouts out of its hull. This usually happens around four to seven days after the seed is soaked in water.

Typical sprouting jar

Microgreens

Microgreens, on the other hand, are harvested a bit later. They are harvested after the little plant gets its first set of leaves (cotyledon) or true leaves (depending on the desired taste). This usually takes one to three weeks from when the seed was sown.