Content
Intro
"I am excited to share my latest gardening experiment - growing radish seeds as microgreens outdoors. This is a great way for those of us who have limited space (either in our home or backyard) to grow fresh greens, and it's also an opportunity for kids to get their hands dirty and learn about nature!"
It's still below freezing overnight where I live. So the best microgreen for me to try is radish, so that is what I'm going to do. I'm excited to see how this goes! Radish can handle the cooler weather and develops very quickly. That's why I chose to try radish at this time.
How to Grow Radish Microgreens Outdoors
I'm trying this in my new raised garden bed, which I made into a square foot garden bed which I posted earlier this year(click here to read about square foot garden bed https://www.bgcs-as1.com). I made a wood cover for the microgreens. It's not very pretty because I am limited by my lack of tools for these projects. Anyway, I made the cover to fit a square foot space in my garden bed. It's not exact but close enough for me.
Firstly, I watered the area that I'm going to use. After wetting, I used the cover to press the square foot space down for the radish microgreen seeds. Once I have the impression in the soil of the space I'm using. I tried to distribute the seeds relatively densely. After adding the seeds, I watered and then placed the cover over the area. I will water twice daily because they will dry out faster outside the sun. I will leave the cover over the microgreens until I'm ready to let them have the sun.
What are Microgreens?
Microgreens are the youth plants harvested before they have become mature adult plants. Microgreens are the baby of the well-known common plants you would have in your garden or buy in the grocery store. For example, if you buy kale at the grocery store, you will be buying a bunch of kale leaves from a mature kale plant. Kale microgreens are the same plant only grown to the size of one to three inches tall and then harvested at that time. They can be harvested in eight to fourteen days, depending on the variety. There is a wide range of flavors with microgreens. They can very intense flavored compared to the adults.
Microgreens are grown away from a light source to get lengthy quickly before introducing them into the light. After you see the first true leaves, they are ready to be harvested. The first leaves that you will see are called cotyledons. The first true leaves are the second set of leaves that appear. When you notice these leaves, your microgreens are ready to be harvested and eaten.
Radish Microgreen Nutrition
Add some spice to your life with radish microgreens, add them to your salads, soups, sandwiches, and many other dishes. Eat them in a delicious hummus sandwich(this is my favorite way).
Microgreens have more concentrated nutrient content than mature plants. In most cases, the microgreen antioxidant levels, vitamins, and minerals are higher than the adult plants. There are some vegetables where that is not the case. Overall, eating microgreens will help you incorporate nutrition into your daily menu. Radish microgreens are very nutritious and delicious! Radish microgreens are chock-full of vitamins and minerals. They contain vitamins A, B, C, E, and K. With minerals including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. They also contain chlorophyll which is what gives them the look of green. This microgreen is an excellent choice for you to slip into your daily menu.
If you are going to try growing microgreens, radish is a great place to start. They are the fastest and easiest to grow. You can harvest radish in eight to nine days! So when you add the growth and the nutrition of radish, they are the perfect place to start.