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How to Grow a MicroGreens Vegetable Garden Year Round Inside Your Home

John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ goes on a field trip to Urban Hydro Greens to share with you how you can grow microgreens year round inside your home. In this episode you will get a tour of the 1,000 square foot warehouse that produces 1000 trays of micro-greens each month to feed the residents of Las Vegas the most nutritious leafy green vegetable ever. In addition you will learn how you can grow microgreens in your home ANY time of the year.

Microgreens: Health Benefits and Nutrition Facts

Turns out microgreens are not just a plain good-for-you food or a healthy garnish on salads and soups. Scientific research now proves that these tiny seedlings harvested and eaten when they are just a few inches tall are a real superfood packed with antioxidants and other health-promoting nutrients. HealWithFood.org combed through recently published scientific research – as well as some older studies – to uncover nutrition facts for these young edible seedlings harvested at the cotyledon leaf stage, and is happy to provide you with this overview of the nutritional value and health benefits of microgreens.

Nutrition Fact 1: Microgreens Provide More Nutrition Than Mature Leaves

A 2010 study published in the Journal of American Society for Horticultural Science reported that young lettuce seedlings, harvested 7 days after germination, had the highest antioxidant capacity as well as the highest concentrations of health-promoting phenolic compounds, compared with their more mature conterparts.

A few years later, a team of scientists from the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture analyzed the nutrient composition of 25 commercially available microgreen varieties. They discovered that in general microgreen cotyledon leaves had considerably higher nutritional densities than their mature counterparts (cotyledon leaves refer to the embryonic first leaves of a seedling). This large-scale microgreen study was published in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Nutrition Fact 2: Vitamin C is Abundant in Microgreens

Young edible seedlings are a superb source of vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps protect your body from the harmful effects of free radicals. The 2012 study on microgreens reported that even the microgreen sample that had the lowest levels of vitamin C contained a whopping 20 milligrams of vitamin C per 100 grams – that's almost twice the amount of vitamin C found in tomatoes! Red cabbage microgreens had the highest levels of vitamin C among the tested varieties, with a 100-gram portion providing 147 milligrams – or 245% of the daily value – of this vital nutrient. For comparison, an equal-sized serving of mature raw red cabbage contains 57 milligrams of vitamin C according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

                                      

Nutrition Fact 3: Many Microgreens Are Loaded With Beta-Carotene

Carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, are thought to reduce the risk of disease, particularly certain types of cancer and eye disease. Carrots are famous for being rich in beta-carotene, but turns out that many microgreens are also a good source of this important nutrient. In fact, some microgreens appear to contain even more beta-carotene than carrots: 12 milligrams per 100 grams compared with 8 milligrams in boiled carrots, according to the 2012 study. The researchers who analyzed the beta-carotene content of microgreens found that these super-nutritious greens also provide other carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin.

                                         

Nutrition Fact 4: Microgreens Are a Good Source of Vitamin E

Back in 1967, a team of scientists from Yale University showed that young pea seedlings grown in light contain significant levels of tocopherol (vitamin E). Similarly, the researchers responsible for the 2012 microgreen study found substantial amounts of tocopherols in the tested greens. The amount of alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol combined ranged from 7.9 to 126.8 milligrams per 100 grams, with green daikon radish microgreens scoring the highest value in this analysis. For adults, the recommended daily allowance for vitamin E is 15 milligrams of alpha-tocopherol, meaning that eating just a small amount of daikon radish microgreens would cover your daily requirement for this important antioxidant 

vitamin.

                                             

Nutrition Fact 5: Greens – Even if Small in Size – Contain Vitamin K

The Yale study on pea microgreens – or young pea seedlings as they were called back then – also discovered that the seedlings started to produce large amounts of vitamin K when they were exposed to light. But that's hardly big news. Vitamin K functions as an electron acceptor when chlorophyll – abundant in all green plants including microgreens – absorbs sunlight to produce carbohydrates and oxygen during photosynthesis. Vitamin K also offers health benefits for humans by promoting normal blood clotting and preventing excessive bruising. Vitamin K also plays an important role in maintaining strong and healthy bones.

The 2012 microgreen study analyzed the levels of phylloquinone (the type of vitamin K produced by plants) in different micro-sized greens, and found the highest levels of vitamin K in amaranth microgreens (Red Garnet variety). The researchers observed marked differences in vitamin K concentration between different microgreens, with the values ranging from 0.6 to 4.1 micrograms per gram.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3hrGUPNul

How does your garden grow? Microsoft finds success, sustainability in urban farming experiment

There’s a quiet, green revolution growing in the middle of Microsoft’s Café 34. Under plasma lights, lettuce thrives in hydroponic towers. Microgreens are cultivated in a cooler behind the “Forage” organic salad bar.

Welcome to Dining Microsoft’s urban farming experiment, where microgreens are used as a topping on pizzas and other dishes served at the café. They’re also often the finishing touch on entrees served in the adjacent “in.gredients,” a space created for local restaurateur John Howie and is currently home to guest chef Maria Hines of Tilth fame.

The greens, available in the café’s “Gather” salad bar, are often the first to go, says Jessica Schilke, urban farming specialist for Microsoft’s Dining and Beverage Services. “We get lots of great feedback about how they taste,” she adds.

In fact, the plants are quickly approaching celebrity status in the remodeled café, which reopened six months ago. Schilke says it’s not uncommon for visitors to take “selfies” in front of the cheery growing towers, and adds that there’s one man who visits nearly every day. “He says he likes to sit next to the plants,” she says. “He feels energized by the lights.”

The greens are started from seed at another campus location and are transplanted into these units after about 8 days.   Here, the plants sit in nutrient rich water and take about two more weeks until they are ready to be harvested for the first time.

The goal is sustainability, says Mark Freeman, senior program manager of Microsoft’s Dining and Beverage Services. The idea is rooted in an effort to be more thoughtful about where food served on Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters — nearly a city in itself — comes from.

“I think about sustainability a lot,” Freeman says, adding that he came up with the idea for bringing hydroponic vegetables to campus when he saw the towers while attending a restaurant show in Chicago.

“People are concerned about what’s in their food and where it comes from. We make buying choices based on that notion and work with farmers who are taking care of the Earth,” Freeman explains. “We see Microsoft as a city, and as we look at that city, we want to meet the needs of our citizens by offering a variety of healthy foods that help make our employees happy and productive.”

“The opportunity to develop a locally based food system for a city is usually a thought exercise, but here we can actually make these changes, and experiment, and people are excited to see where this can go,” adds Schilke, whose background before coming to Microsoft was a career creating holistic systems.

Schilke says she’s also excited about the opportunity to mix their sustainability efforts with the technological innovation that occurs organically on campus. They’ve already received a valuable tip from Xbox employees who suggested incorporating plasma lights instead of halogen or LED lighting originally used for the towers.

Because the plasma units provide a complete light spectrum, the plants are able to develop natural coloration not seen with the halogen or LEDs. They taste better too, Schilke says.

She’s also met folks interested in developing apps for the project — everything from remotely measuring the progress of the plants to displaying where to find campus-grown produce. Schilke says she’s inspired by the interest so far. “I’d love to hear more ideas,” she adds.

The pair hopes to grow 100 percent of the company’s microgreens in house, or about 270 trays per week, by the beginning of the next fiscal year in July. They’re also expanding the operation to include tower gardens in the remodeled Building 83 cafeteria later this summer.

While they plan to keep the focus on microgreens and lettuce for now, there’s always room for more experimentation. Perhaps they’ll grow some culinary herbs, too, says Schilke.

“Our ultimate goal is 100 percent sustainability,” Freeman says. “This is a first step.”

Growing Micro Greens and Organic Produce for Restaurants (Video)

The Side Yard is an urban farm, nomadic supper club and catering company located in the NE Cully Neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.  They provide local restaurants with creative organic produce and the community with food, farm education and opportunity since 2009. 

The farm is largely operated by volunteers and interns who gain hands on experience with the urban seed to plate movement. The Side Yard offers 'Nomadic Chef' suppers & brunches,private catering, educational DIY workshops, farm tours, grief group and kids camp. their focus is to provide local food for the local community, from the seeds we sow, animals we raise and to the craftsmanship they embrace. 

They grow our produce sustainably and ethically, with a creative touch. The farm produces a wide range of seasonal veggies, fruits and culinary herbs that are harvested within hours of delivery to ensure quality and freshness. They are known for our unique selection of specialty herbs and micro crops.

8 questions about Microgreens:

What are micro greens? 

Mostly, they are regular plants harvested early when they are only a couple inches long. There are seed varieties that are micro-mixes, but they're not necessary.

If I want to grow micro greens, do I need special plants?
No. Just seed a little heavier than normal and thin them out once they get their "true leaves" (which are different than the cotyledon leaves sprouted by new seedlings). 

                                                           What makes a good micro green? 
Root veggies are good. Givens recommends amaranth, carrots, ruby streak mustard greens, micro radishes (including Easter Egg and French Breakfast varieties), beets, and turnips.

How do I know when they're ready for harvest? 
For most veggies, it's once their "true leaves" have grown in. 

How delicate are these plants? 
Extremely. They should be handled with care and washed carefully especially if you keep the root hairs intact on the root, as Givens likes to do (an example of the washing process can be seen in the video). 

How do chefs use your micro greens? 
The micro-radishes, micro arugula, micro mustard, and micro carrots are used mostly for garnish, "to make a plate pop".


                             


Are micro greens any healthier for you than full-sized plants? 
No. But they taste great, like a "flavor bomb since the flavors are concentrated in the smaller root size."

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How perishable are these micro greens? 
Givens harvests the micro greens in the morning, washes, packages, and delivers them to the local restaurants she serves within hours of harvest.