The wind howled. Frost hardened on my windowpanes, blotting out what little light radiated from a dull and distant sun.
No matter. Fresh and bright in their makeshift plastic tray, my tiny green broccoli seedlings grew and thrived.
Given little more than a few square inches of potting soil, a scrap of unbleached paper towel (more about that later) and a few spritzes with a cheap supermarket misting bottle, the seeds sprouted within 48 hours, throwing down roots and offering up tiny ivory leaves. The next day, the leaves were lime green, and a week after that they were dark, lush and ready for harvesting.
Following the instructions in “Microgreens: A Guide to Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens” by Eric Franks and Jasmine Richardson (Gibbs Smith, $19.99). I clipped a 11/2-inch plant above the soil and plopped the whole thing, stem and all, into my mouth.
The flavor, subtle but distinctive, took me by surprise: broccoli distilled to its tender green essence.
And so, gentle reader, I became a grower of microgreens.
Maybe it isn’t cold weather stopping you from gardening but, well, the lack of a garden. Again, microgreens offer an ideal antidote for those without yards, patios — or even, for that matter, green thumbs.
Bigger than sprouts and smaller than mature plants, microgreens can be grown from herbs and vegetables such as basil, beets and broccoli. They’re best known as a prized ingredient of produce-savvy chefs, but recent books such as Franks’ and Richardson’s, and Fionna Hill’s “Microgreens: How to Grow Nature’s Own Superfood” (Firefly, $17.95), offer instructions for beginners who want to go “micro” in the comfort of their own homes.
Throw in some DIY tips from the Internet — among them, making your own trays from old plastic lids — and you’re off to a good start.
“Microgreens are easy, and they’re quick, and you can grow them year-round in your house,” says Richardson. “It’s a way that the everyday person can produce their own food.”
They also boast an impressive nutritional profile. Three-day-old broccoli plants are a great source of sulforaphane, a powerful cancer-fighting compound, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. In 1997, the researchers reported that 3-day-old broccoli and cauliflower have 10 to 100 times as much glucoraphanin (a precursor of sulforaphane) as the mature plants.
My microgreens adventure started when I called my local garden center to find out if they had organic potting soil, and I discovered they were sold out. I called another garden center, which was closed for the season. The big plant nursery 20 minutes away did have potting soil, but it was frozen solid. I had to let the bag thaw inside overnight.
Finding a sunny windowsill was challenging; my house was built in the 1930s, when, apparently, direct sunlight was not in vogue. Still, a bit of experimentation yielded the optimum location, and the sight of sun-splashed new leaves rising from fresh soil was ample reward for my efforts.
Even the thankless process of seed germination was lively, thanks to Richardson’s technique of covering the seeds with unbleached, natural paper towels rather than soil. You can lift up the paper towel to see the tiniest roots begin to emerge, and you know when to remove the towel because the growing seedlings start pushing it up off the ground.
You don’t need to buy seed packets specifically labeled as microgreens but you do need to know that some herbs and veggies work better than others.
Richardson and Franks offer information on more than a dozen options, including amaranth, purple cabbage, celery and bok choy. You can use basil microgreens in desserts, and just about any microgreen will enhance a salad, omelet or sandwich. Both books include many recipes.
Some microgreens are harder to grow than others — arugula, for example, can be a trifle fussy about soil pH — so anxious first-timers may want to stick with broccoli, Richardson’s top pick for ease and reliability.
And just how tough are broccoli microgreens?
During the course of my busy morning routine, I once accidentally misted a tray of seedlings with organic counter cleaning spray, which bore an uncanny resemblance to my cheap plastic plant mister in both size and design. The seedlings temporarily drooped — largely, Richardson speculated, in response to my overzealous attempts to rinse them off — but by evening they were bouncing back.
“Don’t worry about it — they’re pretty resilient,” Richardson counseled.
Sure enough, when I harvested my “crop” with kitchen scissors a few days later, the little heart-shaped leaves were back to their old selves: fresh, crisp and alive with flavor.
Growing tips, step by step
Adapted from “Microgreens: A Guide to Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens” by Eric Franks and Jasmine Richardson.
Materials needed: organic potting soil, shallow tray or pot with drainage holes and tray, seeds (preferably organic), piece of thick cardboard, unbleached natural paper towels, water mister, clear plastic lid, scissors
Instructions:
1. Find a sunny spot in your house: This will dictate the size of your container.
2. Fill a tray or pot with at least
1 1/2 inches of soil (but don’t fill to the very top). Place tray in a convenient place; sunlight is not necessary yet.
3. Gently flatten the soil with a thick piece of cardboard cut to about the size of your tray; avoid compacting the soil.
4. Sprinkle seeds generously atop without completely covering the soil.
5. Cover container with a piece of paper towel. Spray the paper towel with water until it is soaked, and continue to keep the paper towel moist.
6. Cover the container with a clear plastic lid to create a greenhouse effect. (Check your inventory of plastic containers; an inexpensive clear takeout lid will work fine.) Keep using the lid as a cover, and water the seeds daily until they germinate — growing tiny roots and their first lime-green leaves. (Broccoli germination takes 3 to 4 days.)
7. When seeds have germinated, gently remove the paper towel and stop using the lid. Place tray in a sunny spot.
8. Keep soil moist, watering about once a day with mister. (When in doubt, stick a finger in a corner of the tray.) All the soil should be moist.
9. You should be able to harvest 5 to 7 days after germination. Cut greens about 1 inch above the soil. You can harvest the microgreens in stages, so they’re fresh when you want them. Store in a resealable bag, leaving a little air inside, and refrigerate immediately. They’ll keep 3 days or more.
10. After your crop is harvested, sprinkle the used potting soil in your garden. Start with fresh soil for your next microgreen crop.
— N.S.
But is it a microgreen?
Microgreens are grown from a wide variety of seeds, including basil, radishes and beets. What distinguishes them is the stage of growth between “sprout” and mature plant.
A seed becomes a pale, crunchy sprout just after it germinates. The microgreen stage is next, and includes the opening of the first leaves, called cotyledons, and the appearance of the second set of leaves, or “true leaves.” Microgreens are often harvested 5 to 14 days after germinating, when they have two to four leaves.
I had a good experience buying seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine (johnnyseeds.com). Amazon.com offers organic broccoli seeds. Other sources include Mountain Valley Seed Co. in Utah (mvseeds.com) and Kitazawa Seed Co. in California (kitazawaseed.com). And don’t forget any garden centers in your neighborhood that might still be selling seeds.
— N.S.
