I started out 4 weeks ago using a bespoke microgreen growing tray from Johnsons. Following the instructions scrupulously I sowed coriander and basil which, according to the packet, should be ready in 10-16 days and 16-21 days respectively. Well I am now 28 days in and it is time for some intervention. Progress has been painfully slow, and I make the following observations:
The design of the kit needs to be modified. What you get is a clear tray that holds a reservoir of water over which the growing trays are suspended. At first sight I thought the clear tray was a cover to retain moisture in the atmosphere above the seeds but no, it is the base and there is no lid. After the slow progress of three weeks I have enclosed the unit in a polythene bag to rectify this omission.
Also after three weeks I was having doubts about the design from the point of view of the growing medium. Spraying kitchen towel 2-3 times a day doesn't seem particularly onerous. Once you have been doing it for 21 days without fail you begin to wonder who is the mug! If you miss one session the kitchen towel soon dries out.
So after three weeks I took the third packet that came with the kit (Rocket - Ready in 16-21 days) and sprinkled it on the surface of a more conventional set up. A half sized seed tray with potting compost and a cover. This had the advantage of being moveable without the reservoir of water sloshing all over the place. I put this enclosed unit in an internal cupboard and forgot about it for 4 days. On first checking it looked like this:
so I removed it to the kitchen windowsill alongside the designer model. Given the time it has taken for germination of the first sowing I have to conclude that our kitchen is colder than your average kitchen. (Although it gets hot from cooking and the boiler is located in there too, there is no radiator so the temperature can drop.) I also have become convinced that there is a decided lack of sunlight.
Time to deploy the growlight setup in our (former) coal cellar. The tray can be heated but I haven't switched the heat on just yet. Now that germination has occurred I feel sure that the level of light is the crucial factor in producing green microgreens.
So, in conclusion, my purchase of the right kit for the right job turns out to be a bit foolhardy. It is less faff just to use the same system as I do for cut and come again salads but harvest them a bit sooner and pamper them a bit more with indoor temperatures and the supplement of some artificial light. No bother really but it has taken a bit of working out! To grow a seed needs adequate moisture warmth - and light.
We have had three sub zero nights here in Edinburgh, so the outdoor gardening is severely curtailed.
Time to retreat to the kitchen (windowsill).
I bought this kit early in the year in a fit of online gardening enthusiasm but haven't deployed it until now.
It is simply a water tray with a drainage tray propped on top of it. The growing medium (a sheet of kitchen towel) you supply yourself!
Once the tray is filled with water and the paper wetted you sprinkle the supplied "microgreen seeds" on top and, using a water spray, keep them moist for two weeks....
The microgreen seeds I have selected are coriander and basil. Perhaps unsurprisingly they appear the same as my other coriander and basil seeds. There is a little voice at the back of my head that says. "Ah but these have been specially selected for microgreen growing and have no fungicide or insecticide treatment that garden seed might have been treated with" but I really do wonder if they are any different.
A couple of weeks ago I was taking mint cuttings and ended up with some trimmings consisting of 2 leaves and an inch of stem. Not much to go on, but rather than discard these I balance them by their leaves across a jam jar of water on the kitchen windowsill so that the bottom of the stalk was submerged. Here's what happened
and here's another that is a week older.
The reason I happened to have a jam jar of water on the windowsill was because I was trying out a system for taking basil cuttings and rooting them in water. While slower than mint the basil went on to develop dramatic roots too:
I will now be potting these up. The basil I have sown at the same time is minuscule so I think this method for generating successional cropping will be very useful for basil.
For mint it just proves how vigorous mint is! If you plant roots it will grow leaves and if you soak leaves/stem it will develop roots!
If you would like to read more about mint cuttings and how they fare why not visit Darren's blog at Darren's Mint
