4 Easy Steps to Grow Pea Shoot Microgreens At Home
Winter in Zone 5
I am always looking for ways to grow my own healthy food. In the winter in zone 5 that can be pretty challenging. A few weeks ago I started experimenting with growing microgreens. On December 27th I planted pea shoots.
Our windows get very little sunlight in the winter so I decided to set up my grow station in the garage.
To get started I purchased the following:
- An LED grow light
- Microgreen pea shoot seeds
- Hemp grow mats to use as a soil medium. (You can also use potting soil.) Reusing plastic salad containers as the tray seemed like a good way to up-cycle an item we normally throw away in the recycling bin.
I was able to fit one and a half growing mats in the salad container.
Step #1. Plant: I soaked the mat with water and spread the pea shoot seeds on the mat. Then I sprayed the seeds with water to make sure they were nice and wet.
Step #2. Cover: I placed it in a temperature controlled area of the garage. My beer fermentation area was perfect because I have keep the temperature steady at 70F. I covered the seed tray with a dark towel to keep the light out. It is best to keep the seeds covered for the first few days to help them germinate.
Step #3. Lighting: After 3 days I removed the towel and placed them under the grow light.
Step #4 Water: I watered the seeds with filtered tap water at least once a day making sure to keep it moist but not over soaked.
The peas grew fairly quick and after 14 days they were ready to harvest. I added the pea shoots to a salad and was very impressed with the taste. They have a mild grassy pea taste. I would not want to eat just pea shoots by themselves but it was a very excellent addition to my salad mix.
Microgreens are reported to be 10 times healthier than regular greens. Add that to the fact I was able to eat them minutes after harvest and you have a wonderful fresh super healthy addition to your diet.
Have you ever tried to grow microgreens?
What worked and what didn’t?
Cheers,
John
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