If you're going to grow microgreens, you'll need lots of seed as you won't get as much food per seed as you will if you let the plants grow into baby greens. That's because a microgreen is harvested at the cotyledon stage or it may be harvested after the first few true leaves have emerged.
Radish microgreens (left) and Garden Cress microgreens (right) The radish has been harvested at the cotyledon stage, the garden cress has been harvested after the first few true leaves emerged. Some plants, like radish, need to be harvested no later than the cotyledon stage if they're to be eaten raw as the true leaves are tougher and have an unpleasant rough texture when raw. Others, like the garden cress, are very small and delicate even when 2 or 3 sets of true leaves have emerged, and are still very good raw.
When deciding what to grow for micro greens and baby greens, some things need to be taken into consideration. These are the 3 criteria I use when growing for home use: cost vs yield, will I eat them raw or cooked, and how will I grow them.
Cost vs Yield
Having grown many types of plants for both microgreens and baby greens, I've had the opportunity to evaluate them and track their yields. I grew microgreens and baby greens for restaurants one summer and they had me growing all sorts of interesting and delicious greens. Growing these types of crops can be somewhat expensive, and that's because this type of production uses a lot of seed. It was microgreens production that caused me to start buying my seed by the pound for many types.
If I'm growing microgreens, I'll be harvesting them at the cotyledon stage or just a little older. The cotyledon are the first two leaves put out by the plant, but are not true leaves, so there's really not much there to harvest. Restaurants usually use them only as a fancy garnish, and they are sold at extremely high prices because they are very expensive, in terms of seed, to produce. Some, even when harvested as baby greens, are still pretty expensive to grow, because they have small, delicate leaves, so the yield is measured in ounces, not pounds or heads. The radish and garden cress pictured above are good examples of these.
If you're going to eat them raw, some, like the radish, really need to be harvested at the cotyledon stage, but if you plan on steaming or adding them to soups, you can let them grow into quite large baby greens. Others, such as mustard varieties, will change in flavor as they grow. Mustard varieties can be quite spicy when they grow their true leaves. So they can go from having just a little bite as microgreens to being like horseradish once they're 4" tall, especially when grown in a hothouse or during the warm months of the year. But, if you let the greens continue to grow, you'll get more greens for your money.
As far as cost of seed, Radish is one of the least expensive and will give you the most volume in yield for microgreens. The fancy mustards such as red streaks are some of the more expensive seed and will yield less as microgreens because of the small, delicate leaves.
My recommendation is to buy at least 4 ounces of seed to start, and when you decide what you like, then buy your seed by the pound or half pound at a time. A couple of seed suppliers who I like to use for bulk seed are Mountain Valley Seed Co. and Kitazawa Seed Company. Both have a very nice selection, and both sell seed in bulk quantities.
Will I eat them raw or cooked?
As I mentioned above, some plants are best raw at the cotyledon stage, some I'd rather let grow to the baby green stage so I get more yield. Others though, are best cooked if I let them grow true leaves. So, what I'm going to grow will depend on what I'm going to use it for. Below is a list of some of the crops I like to grow as microgreens and baby greens.
- Radish - best at the cotyledon stage if eating raw, otherwise, let grow some true leaves which are very good steamed, used in soups, and other cooked dishes. One of the things about radishes that always amazes me is how fast they are. During the warm months, when started in a warm greenhouse, radish will go from seed to harvest at the cotyledon stage in as little as 5 days, and 10-14 days for baby greens.
- Mustard varieties - Good at the cotyledon stage, but not much yield, so I prefer to allow them to grow into baby greens. They can get hot, and Mizuna mustard can become bitter, when too mature or when grown in hot weather. Heat is good if you like horseradish tasting heat, and you can eat them raw in salads or on sandwiches. Otherwise, light cooking will turn the heat to sweet. There are a wide variety of types of mustards, from broad leaf frilly mustards like Southern Giant Curled, to deeply veined green and red varieties like Red Giant, and lacy varieties such as Red Streaks and Mizuna.
- Herbs such as arugula, cilantro, basil, fennel, etc. - I prefer to let these grow to baby green size and they are all very good raw or cooked at this stage.
- Cress - All varieties (watercress, upland cress, garden cress, curled cress) are good as baby greens and add a peppery accent to anything they're used in. They can be used raw or in cooked recipes. Upland cress is kind of cool looking as it grows in a rosette.
Baby beet greens = delicious!
- Beet - My preference are Bull's Blood and Detroit Dark Red. Both are pretty reasonable as far as cost of seed goes. As microgreens, the dark red leaves and stems make a striking garnish to any salad or cooked dish if you want to do something fancy. Grown into baby greens, the leaves and stems are very delicate and make a really nice addition to any salad. They have the flavor of young Swiss Chard, and I actually prefer growing beet baby greens instead of Swiss Chard because beet seed is less expensive than chard. Beets are one of the longest to germinate, and they're comparatively slow growing to boot. The beet greens shown above took about 6 - 7 weeks to go from seed to the baby green stage. If I remember right, the leaves were about 3" long.
- Amaranth - like beet, amaranth is a little slow off the mark but makes a beautiful baby green. And the seed is very reasonably priced when purchased by the pound. Amaranth also comes in a variety of different colors.
- Onion - I think that, given the price of the seed and the amount of greens you get, onions are better left to scallion and bulb onion production. I don't grow onion microgreens for myself for these reasons.
- Squash - Here's one that seems a bit odd, but actually, squash seed is pretty inexpensive and the microgreens are very large and have good flavor when used in salads or lightly cooked in stir fry. Squash leaves are edible and the very young leaves, steamed or cooked in other recipes are pretty good.
- Sunflower is another plant that can be grown for microgreens. They're best at the cotyledon stage and should be used as squash microgreens.
- Corn - This is an unusual microgreen. It's more accurately called a shoot. The plant is harvested when 3"-6" tall. It can be grown green, or, if covered and blanched will make it a pale yellow or cream color. The shoots have a grassy flavor with a little hint of licorice. The best seed to grow is popcorn. You can buy it at the store (yes the grocery store in the popcorn section). Buy regular popcorn, not microwave popcorn. Aside from being too expensive, microwave popcorn already has butter (or butter flavored oil) on it, which will interfere with germination.
- Pea - I prefer to use snow pea seed to grow pea baby greens, also known as pea threads. My favorite snow pea is a variety called Mammoth Melting Sugar, although Oregon Giant is also very good. The nice thing about growing peas is that if you let them get 3 pairs of true leaves, you can cut above the bottom two, and plant the plug out into the garden. Cutting will set the plant back, but you can grow it on for a regular crop.
A word of caution when buying seed to grow microgreens and baby greens: Don't buy treated or coated seed. Only use plain, untreated, seed. Treated or coated seed is OK for crops that you'll be picking at maturity, but you don't know what the treatment is, what's in it, or what, if any, residue will be present on the greens, especially those harvested at the cotyledon stage.
How Will I Grow Them?
72 count plug trays with newly emerged seedlings for microgreens and baby greens.
I've tried lots of ways of growing microgreens and baby greens, but the easiest and most cost effective way, at least for me, is to grow them in plug trays using potting soil with a light topping such as sharp sand (aka clean mason's sand). The trays are relatively inexpensive, costing only a dollar or two each, are economical on the potting soil, and are easy to handle. If I'm growing baby greens, I can set the tray in contact with a mulch such as grass clippings, old hay, or leaf mold, and the fine roots from the plants will find their way out the drain holes and into the mulch. This gives the plants some nutrition, and it makes it possible to pull the tray without too much trouble when I remove it from the bed to harvest the greens. This system also has the benefit of being weed free. Because the potting soil is clean, and the trays over their mulch bed suppress weed germination and growth, when I pull the tray for harvest all I have to do is cut the greens with a pair of scissors and I have greens that are ready to eat that need only a light washing to be ready for a salad.
Trays of microgreens being grown on a mulch bed in a low tunnel.
Harvesting baby Violeto bok choi.
Once the microgreens or baby greens are ready for harvest, I like to bring the trays into the greenhouse where I have benches. I grasp the plant just at the soil line and pull the plant, plug and all, out of the cell. I cut the plant away from the plug, and then the spent plugs can be composted. Because they are still weed free, once they are composted, I have more soil to use to grow more greens. The trays, if cared for, will last a few years. So the whole system is very efficient and cost effective, especially if you price baby greens at the store.
So give these crops a try. I think you'll enjoy growing them.
I'll probably be trialing some other methods this year and if I come up with something easier or more cost effective, I'll write an article about it. I'm always experimenting, looking for a better way...
All content and images, unless otherwise noted © Joanne Rigutto
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