Many people are now turning to microgreens as a fun, easy way to add colour and variety to their gardens. Microgreens are also a suitable alternative to using potting soil as there is no need for the traditional messy potting mix. The benefits of growing micro greens in your garden are very much like eating microgreens – they taste delicious, are environmentally friendly, easy to grow and are extremely rewarding once you get them established.
When deciding whether to use microgreens potting soil or to use peat moss as your microgreens seed source, you first need to ensure that the correct conditions have been created for their growth in your garden. To do this, create a good quality, acidic plant based compost using a good organic matter base. You can make your own compost using material from around your home, but it would be better to buy an organic sourced product. Once you have got your compost ready, you should also try and use a good quality weed killer to prevent new weed growth.
To achieve the best results when growing microgreens in your potting mix, you need to incorporate lots of good quality, slow release nutrients. Your compost should also contain high levels of nitrogen, because this is essential when it comes to encouraging the growth of microgreens. This means that you need to buy a wide variety of nutrients such as iron, magnesium, sulphur, potassium, calcium and magnesium.
Once you have got your compost ready and added your microgreens potting soil, you will need to make sure that the area is well ventilated. During the warmer summer months, you should allow your microgreen growing bed to soak up as much sunlight as possible. At the same time, during colder winter months, you should put blinds or window tints over the area to prevent direct sunlight from heating up the potting soil. If you live in an area where temperature varies throughout the year, you may well need to invest in a heating device for the microgreen growing bed.
Microgreens are ideal for growing in small spaces because they don’t need much space to establish themselves. As long as you provide good soil aeration, you should be able to keep your plants happy and growing for years to come. Good soil aeration will ensure that your microgreens get the optimum amount of oxygen and food to grow. Microgreens need about six hours of light per day, but you don’t really need to provide that much for them. In fact, they will do equally well if you let them get half an hour of sunlight daily.
When it comes to planting, it is important to make sure that you have a healthy growing area. As you probably know from reading through previous articles, microgreens will do well in container type pots and other types of pots that are made specifically for growing vegetables. But, if you are growing them in a traditional garden, a good idea is to use a regular garden soil mix. Don’t be afraid to add some sand to the soil. This will help the soil to retain moisture better. Plus, sand provides a good source of nutrients to the roots of your plants, so it will be even more beneficial to plant them in this soil.
Microgreens will do best if you plant them in approximately two feet of water with a good drainage system. However, if you are growing them in a traditional garden, you may want to alternate pots between containers. The reason why you do this is because microgreens are known to have some issues growing in soil that is too dry. Some of the most common microgreen diseases include root rot and stem rots. It is very important that you make sure that your growing medium has plenty of nutrients to give the root system a boost and it should be several inches deep as well.
If you are going to be planting these little wonders in containers, then I would recommend using a good quality potting soil mix. Make sure that it includes lots of peat moss and straw. When using a mix like this, it is important that you don’t use too much sand or compost. However, some people have had success growing microgreens in a mix that includes peat moss and wood chips.