I am a “country girl” who grew up in the countryside of southern Taiwan. The first thing I did when I bought a house with a backyard in the United States was to start a vegetable garden.
“What shall I grow?” I asked a few friends.
They all said, “Plant vegetables that grow quickly and that you can harvest throughout the season, because the growing season in the Midwest is short.”
Okay, let me grow Chinese broccoli.
Of course, you shouldn’t use pesticides in your garden since it’s organic. The first time I had a harvest, I was super happy and stirred fry the green leaves with ginger and olive oil. Our son was still at home back then. The young man with sharp eyes asked me, “Mom, why are there worms in this dish?”
I was about to say, “Nonsense…”
Then I put on my glasses and took a closer look.
Wow, incredible. So many different kinds of bugs! “I washed the vegetables three times. Why couldn’t I get rid of the bugs?”
I had no choice but to trash them.
After that, I could only grow vegetables that insects dislike, such as leeks and green onions, but we always wanted to eat more greens.
That’s why when I discovered microgreens, I became excited. Growing microgreens solves the two major problems for me: the short growing season and the bugs. Furthermore, microgreens have a high nutritional value. Most varieties are rich in trace elements like potassium, iron, zinc, magnesium, and copper, etc. They are also an important source of antioxidants.
As usual, I first went online to conduct a bit of research. As soon as I entered “microgreens” in Google, more than five million results popped up. Many of them were ads that asked you to spend hundreds of dollars on a full set of growing equipment. After reading a few articles, I finally found a simple and economical approach.
As shown in the photo, I borrowed a lampshade from my husband, bought a lightbulb with1600 lumens, and used two abandoned plastic pots. I asked my husband to drill six small holes in the inner pot to allow water to drain. I bought “Rainbow Mix” seeds from Amazon, soaked them in water overnight, and added them evenly to the soil in the pot. Then I added water to keep the soil moist, and lighted them for ten hours a day. About a week later, I had a harvest. I made my own salad dressing with olive oil, honey water, lemon juice, and minced garlic, as shown in the picture. Besides eating them raw, we also stir fry them or add them to our hot pot.
According to the online information, hundreds of plants can be grown as microgreens. From the first pot, I have now expanded to six pots. In addition to Rainbow Mix, I also grow snow peas and sunflower seedlings. Each seed has a different density requirement, which you can find from the Internet. The taste is also not the same, but they are all equally delicious and nutritious.
I hope this article will encourage you to grow and eat microgreens—organic, non-toxic, and fun.
