Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

241 House Strip Planting Ideas. Microgreens

November 25, 2022 Fred Hoffman Season 3 Episode 241
Garden Basics with Farmer Fred
241 House Strip Planting Ideas. Microgreens
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

You might live in a house or condo that has a narrow strip of soil right next to the house. What precautions do you need to take before you plant in that two foot wide strip? We answer a listener’s question on that very topic, with the help of America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower. 

Also, how about growing some nutritious vegetables this winter, indoors, in a sunny window? It’s microgreens, a variety of any edible, leafy crop that you can harvest when they’re just a couple of inches tall, perfect for garnishing soup, salad or a sandwich. Master Gardener Gail Pothour will tell us how to do it. (Originally aired in Ep. 63)

We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. Let’s go!

Previous episodes, show notes, links, product information, and transcripts at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred, GardenBasics.net. Transcripts and episode chapters also available at Buzzsprout

Pictured: Microgreens

Links:
Smart Pots https://smartpots.com/fred/
Dave Wilson Nursery https://www.davewilson.com/home-garden/

SOIL TESTS:
U Mass Amherst
Colo. St.
Texas A&M

Do-It-Yourself Soil Testing Equipment
Microgreens Growing Kits
Kitazawa Seeds
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Johnny's Microgreens Chart
Microgreen Growing Information

All About Farmer Fred:
The GardenBasics.net website

The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter, Beyond the Basics
https://gardenbasics.substack.com

Farmer Fred website:
http://farmerfred.com

Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
https://twitter.com/farmerfred

The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
http://farmerfredrant.blogspot.com

Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred" 

Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
https://www.instagram.com/farmerfredhoffman/

Farmer Fred Garden Minute Videos on YouTube
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from possible links mentioned here.

Got a garden question? 

• Leave an audio question without making a phone call via Speakpipe, at https://www.speakpipe.com/gardenbasics

• Call or text us the question: 916-292-8964. 

• Fill out the contact box at GardenBasics.net

• E-mail: fred@farmerfred.com 


Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter.

GB 241 House Strip. Growing Microgreens  TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] 

Farmer Fred: 

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. It's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.


Farmer Fred: 

You might live in a house or condo that has a narrow strip of soil right next to the house. What precautions do you need to take before you plant in that two foot wide strip? We answer a listener’s question on that very topic, with the help of America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower. Also, how about growing some nutritious vegetables this winter, indoors, in a sunny window? It’s microgreens, a variety of any edible, leafy crop that you can harvest when they’re just a couple of inches tall, perfect for garnishing soup, salad or a sandwich. Master Gardener Gail Pothour will tell us how to do it. (Originally aired in Ep. 63)


We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. Let’s go!


HOUSE STRIP PLANTING


Farmer Fred: 

[00:01:29] 

We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics Podcast. A lot of ways you can get your question into us. You can leave a message at SpeakPipe. No phone charges are incurred. You're yelling at your computer, something you may do already. Go to speakpipe.com/garden basics and leave a question for us there. 

You can also call and leave a question on the phone, (916) 292-8964, text messages and pictures as well. 916-292- 8964. There's a contact box on our website. You can leave a message at gardenbasics.net. Email? Sure. Send it to fred@farmerfred.com. There is, of course, the Get Growing with Farmer Fred Facebook page where people leave questions. Also on Instagram and Twitter, as well. 


Debbie Flower is here to help us answer the questions, and Debbie, we get a question from Tim, who has a question that is very common with anybody who lives in a modern, suburban house. They have that little foot and a half, two foot wide strip of dirt right next to their house. 

That leads to probably a walkway around the house. “And what the heck is that quality of soil like,” Tim asks. “I am curious if you have any advice on preparing garden beds for spring planting next year, which is adjacent to the house. Here is a photo which shows the planting bed in question. I plan on removing the old rose there since it's much too big for the space.” 

Yeah, that's something to think about. And constantly got leaf spot and disease. The house is in Rancho Cordova, which is a suburb of Sacramento, and it's in the backyard facing east. And as far as exposures go, Debbie, East is a nice exposure, because you get that shade in the hot afternoon, Tim goes on to say, “In previous years, bagged compost has been added to the raw clay over the years, and is now compacted with the clay. I know I will need to grade it before planting and probably add new soil to the top as well. However, since the soil level is about even with the walkway right now, I was wondering if I should add more soil to the top, and if so, how high should a bed like that be next to the house and walkway, or should it be close to level with the walkway having just a slight grade away from the house?”

Tim, you are about to mix internal and external. With this situation, one of the primary concerns as far as the level of the soil goes, is dry rot on the house. You don't want to be piling soil up next to the house. One option, Debbie, I guess, would be to have some sort of retaining wall at the back edge of that bed, wood or something else if you want.

Debbie Flower:  
Against the house, you mean? Yeah. The back edge, next  to the house. I wouldn’t make it wood, because wood will rot over time. My son bought a house in the Bay area and they had a planter, a brick planter up against the wall, the exterior wall of the house. I don't know if they had put anything between it. I don't know if they'd put landscape, fabric or anything else. It was quite old. It was dirt against the house. Yes. And it rotted the wall. We had to take off the exterior, open the wall up completely to the outside. And then you start rotting the two by four s. No, I would not raise the level of that soil. I would keep it at the foundation only.  

[00:04:37] 

Farmer Fred: 

Would you dig it out and replace it with other soil? 

[00:04:40] 

Debbie Flower: 

No. Clay actually can be great soil for growing things. It holds a lot of nutrients and it holds water. Sometimes too much water. The fact that they've been adding compost regularly is a good thing. So if  you can dig in it and water when the plants need the water, Not on a schedule, so maybe get a water moisture meter to check. Then I don't think you need new soil. The one thing I am concerned about is leaching potential leaching from the concrete, either the sidewalk or the house foundation of the house, right. lime right. Concrete lasts. I believe someone told me 30 years, it takes 30 years to cure and then it starts to break down. I don't know if that's true. 
 I had the problem of the foundation leaching the calcium from the concrete into the soil and a house I lived in, about 60 years old. And I had to choose the plants I was gonna plant in that area carefully so they could withstand the higher pH, the more alkaline soil that this resulted in. And I would also incorporate some sulfur into the soil, based on the appearance of Tim's rose. I don't think he has that problem. So I would say if you can dig in there, then I think you just leave it at the level. Plant the plants, plant them proud. We call it that when they sink over time because their container media breaks down. They don't get to become the low spot in the garden.

[00:06:09] 

Farmer Fred: 

So, you want the soil ball of that container, in its final resting place, to be about an inch above the existing grade.  

[00:06:15] 

Debbie Flower: 

Make sure the plants are, when mature, going to fit comfortably in that space, not overfill it. I would stay with pretty low things or I'd use it as an annual garden where I took things out periodically.  Because houses need maintenance. They need to be painted. 

[00:06:29] 

Farmer Fred: 

And people wanna step in there.  

[00:06:31] 

Debbie Flower: 

Yeah. Yeah, to get to your roof, to your gutters, the side of the house to paint it, whatever. So either use very low things or use things that you're gonna change out every year. Then I would just add mulch, to continue the improvement of the clay soil.


[00:06:46] 

Farmer Fred: 

And probably the final grade, like Tim would suggest, would be out-flowing. The water would flow away from the house.  

[00:06:51] 

Debbie Flower: 

Yes. He did mention that, and that's an  excellent idea. 


Farmer Fred:

The other thing too, to consider, when planting next to the house is where do the rain gutters dump the water from the roof? If it's dumping it right next to the house, you may want to get extensions, put on those flexible pipes and send that water further out. 

[00:07:06] 

Debbie Flower: 

And if there's an eave, an overhang from the roof above that spot, then you wanna make sure that you can get irrigation to the plants that will be behind that overhang.  

[00:07:18] 

Farmer Fred: 

Yeah, you could do that with the drip irrigation system. This is a suggestion you've made on numerous occasions: that one of the first mysteries you need to solve when it comes to any soil is what's the pH of the soil and especially next to the house where the pH can be wacky because of calcium or lime.  

[00:07:36] 

Debbie Flower: 

The rose looks good. It isn't showing signs of too much alkaline soil, but a soil test is always a good thing.  So get that soil test done and don't pile up the soil around the house, not up to the siding.

[00:07:49] 

Farmer Fred: 

All right, Tim, enjoy your east-facing garden. Thank you, Debbie.


Debbie Flower: 

You're welcome, Fred. 

SMART POTS

Farmer Fred:

[00:07:58] 
You’ve heard me talk about the benefits of Smart Pots, the original, award winning fabric container. Smart pots are sold around the world and are proudly made, 100%, here in the USA.

Smart Pots is the oldest, and still the best, of all the fabric plant containers that you might find. Many of these imitators are selling cheaply made fabric pots that fall apart quickly. Not Smart Pots. There are satisfied Smart Pot owners who have been using the same Smart Pots for over a decade, actually approaching 20 years.

When you choose Smart Pot fabric containers, you know you’ll be having a superior growing experience with the best product on the market.

And your plants will appreciate Smart Pots, too. Because of the one million microscopic holes in Smart Pots, your soil will have better drainage, and the roots will be healthier. They won’t be going round and round on the outside of the soil ball, like you see in so many plastic pots. The air pruning qualities of Smart Pots create more branching of the roots, filling more of the usable soil in the Smart Pot. 

Smart Pots are available at independent garden centers and select Ace and True Value hardware stores nationwide. To find a store near you, or to buy online, visit smart pots dot com slash fred. And don’t forget that slash Fred part. On that page are details about how, for a limited time, you can get 10 percent off your Smart Pot order by using the coupon code, fred. f-r-e-d, at checkout from the Smart Pot Store.

Visit smartpots.com slash fred for more information about the complete line of Smart pots lightweight, colorful, award winning fabric containers and don’t forget that special Farmer Fred 10 percent discount. Smart Pots - the original, award winning fabric planter. Go to smart pots dot com slash fred.


DAVE WILSON NURSERY


Farmer Fred:

You want to start the backyard fruit and nut orchard of your dreams? But you don’t know where to begin? Or, maybe you’re currently growing fruit and nut trees, and you have a million questions… such as what are the tastiest fruits to grow, where can I go to buy some of these delectable fruits and nuts you’ve been reading about…and, how do I care for all these fruit and nut trees, including planting, pruning and harvesting?

I have one online stop in mind, where all these questions you might have will get answered:

It’s dave wilson dot com, That's Dave Wilson Nursery, the nation's largest wholesale grower of fruit and nut trees for the backyard garden. They have planting tips, taste test results, and links to nurseries in your area that carry Dave Wilson fruit trees.

Click on the Home Garden tab at dave wilson dot com for all these links, including a link to their years of informative videos about growing fruit and nut trees that they’ve posted on the Dave Wilson Nursery You Tube Channel. Start the backyard orchard of your dreams at Dave Wilson Dot Com!



GROWING MICROGREENS


Farmer Fred 

For the beginning gardener, microgreens are an easy way to start a hobby of growing vegetables indoors with the cooler weather. So, let's do a little indoor gardening. What are microgreens you ask? Well, that's why we're talking with Master Gardener Gail Pothour. She is very knowledgeable about microgreens. And Gail, what a great way to get the whole family involved in doing some indoor gardening. Because when you grow microgreens, they grow fast.


Gail Pothour: 

Oh yeah, depending on what it is you're growing. And we can talk about the varieties in a few minutes. But they can be harvested in less than a couple of weeks after you plant them. So it's a great activity to have with kids because it's quick. They're different. They look different than plants growing out in the garden. And this is kind of fun, and it's a quick reward. You know, you grow it in a week or two, you've harvested them and then they're cute little things that you're eating.


Farmer Fred: 

And this isn't a main course. I like how the University of Florida described it in their information on microgreens. They describe it as vegetable confetti.


Gail Pothour: 

Right. I like to describe it as houseplants that you can eat.


Farmer Fred: 

Yeah, basically it's a garnish, but you can put it in soups, salads, sandwiches.


Gail Pothour: 

Yeah, a taco would be great. Or if you did like a spring roll or something, you know, instead of using sprouts, you could use microgreens. Great on appetizers. They're fun to use. They are tasty. And yeah, I like to use them in a salad. That's mostly how I use them.


Farmer Fred: 

There are a lot of great charts and information about growing microgreens. We'll have a very thorough list in the notes for today's episode of Garden Basics. One of the best is from Johnny's Seeds, and they have a very nice chart of microgreen varieties, and how long they take to grow and their flavor and their color. Because you might as well make it pretty, mix up the colors.


Gail Pothour: 

Oh, absolutely. And the colors are very intense. So if you're growing something like a red cabbage or beet or something like that, that have really colorful stems and leaves, the color seems to be a little more intense, when there is that tiny little first leaf state so it adds a lot of color to wherever whatever you're eating. They're very tasty as well.


Farmer Fred: 

I think we should point out right off the bat here that when we're saying microgreens we're not just talking about leafy greens, we're talking about a wide range of herbs, flowers, vegetables, that you can grow on a sunny windowsill.


Gail Pothour: 

Right. And not to be confused with sprouts which are grown in water. icrogreens are actually grown in a potting media like a potting soil or a germination mix. And after about a week or two after the cotyledon leaves comes up, (that's just the first little seed leaf) and then you get the first true leaves. That's when you would harvest them. you just give them a haircut right above the soil line. And so yeah, they're different than sprouts. They're also different than baby greens. baby greens are something you would grow to a larger stage like lettuce or spinach. You grow it until it looks more like the mature plant, only still small and then you harvest that. So microgreens are kind of in between the sprouts and the baby greens in size.


Farmer Fred: 

And what surprised me a lot of these references mentioned that lettuce isn't a particularly good subject for microgreens is it?


Gail Pothour: 

No, because they're really tender and wilt too easily. So they actually work better as baby greens, where you can harvest a few of the leaves that look more like the mature leaf only they're still tender. So they're delicious and tender, but they're almost too tender to use as micro greens.


Farmer Fred: 

They're delicious. They're tender. And let's talk about the nutrition in microgreens. It's amazing.


Gail Pothour: 

Oh, absolutely. There was a study done several years ago by the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture, that showed that microgreens can contain four to 40 times more nutrients than their mature counterparts. And I know that there's still ongoing research to determine you know, if that's accurate, or the different values in the different crops, but they are very nutritious, and they're tasty, and they're easy to grow. And I say, if I'm inside, they're absolutely fun to grow.


Farmer Fred: 

In the Journal of Food and Agriculture, they measured the nutrient value of 25 micro greens. And their studies showed that the ones that had the highest concentration of a lot of good nutrition included red cabbage, cilantro, Garnet amaranth, and green, daikon radish, they had the most vitamin C, but I guess, Gail, before we go much further, let's talk about the setup for growing microgreens. And we're gonna be talking about a lot of different herbs and vegetables and flowers that you can grow on a sunny windowsill. So as long as you've got kind of a sunny spot, maybe a south or west facing window, you can set up your own little kitchen farm.


Gail Pothour: 

Right. And because the microgreens grow so quickly, the same seven to 14 days, typically, before you harvest them, they don't really need a lot of lights. So they can actually be grown under conditions that are less than ideal, you know, not a lot of sun, just because they grow so quickly. And the ideal soil temperature is about 60 to 75 degrees. So I when I grow mine, I put on a heating mat, you don't have to, but it helps germination. And the ideal air temperature is about 60 to 70 degrees which is room temperature. So you don't really need to have real bright light, you don't need to have grow lights, although that can help. As they say because they grow so quickly, they don't really need as much light as a plant that you're going to be growing for a couple of months. So, they're ideal for growing indoors during the winter, especially if you live in a real cold climate. Where you know, during the winter, you have this long stretch of time where you can't really grow anything outside. Certainly grow things in the house. So, a window sill is great, gives just enough light for the plants to photosynthesize a little bit before you harvest them.


Farmer Fred: 

I would strongly recommend people get a seed propagation kit, it solves a whole host of problems. It'll keep those young seedlings warm, and it allows a place for water to drain off that you can easily empty. There's a lot of seed propagation kits available online. The cost ranges from 25 to $75. The good ones usually have a high dome, a tray that has a slightly raised bottom that allows the water to go even lower. And many of them come with seed trays and that makes the job a heck of a lot easier as well. And they have a propagation heating mat as well that you were talking about. And by having one of those kits, it makes it easy. In fact, you're gonna get hooked on growing things in basically what is an indoor greenhouse.


Gail Pothour: 

Right. And I do have those same kits I've assembled over the years. So I have the heating mats, I have the humidity domes, I have the long trays. But what's nice about growing microgreens is you can recycle containers. So I save deli containers because they have a little lid that pops off, I wash them really well. You want to have everything sanitized. I poke holes in the bottom of the deli container, put my potting mix in there, plant my seeds, and then I use the lid as the humidity dome so I keep that on top. So you don't have to go to the expense of getting this elaborate seed starting setup. I highly recommend you do that. However, because you can do a little so many other things. You can start your tomatoes and peppers and things like that indoors but you don't have to. And if you just put it in a warm spot for germination. That works just fine. Then as soon as the seeds germinate, take that lid off so that you don't have to keep trapping too much humidity. And yes, you do want to be sure to have some sort of a tray on the bottom to catch the water. Because you do need to have drainage holes in your container.


Farmer Fred: 

Exactly. You need to not allow that soil that is growing those micro greens to get too soggy. It needs drainage and that's why the propagation kits with the ribbed bottom to allow the water to drain even lower is ideal.


Farmer Fred: 

We are talking with Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour about growing microgreens indoors during the winter. We talked about the fact that there are fast growing and slow, slower growing varieties of microgreens you can grow. let's talk about fast growing. When we're talking fast growing, 10 to 15 days until they're harvested. And that's the other thing we didn't mention is how to harvest the microgreens. So you're planting seeds, you wait 10 or 15 days. And then you clip them with the scissors.


Gail Pothour: 

Yeah, to kind of like give them a haircut. So have a clean pair of sharp scissors and hold on to the the upper portion of the microgreens kind of a handful and then just clip them just above the soil line. You don't want to get a lot of potting mix in with your microgreens if you can help it but you can always kind of rinse those off afterwards. But yeah, it's really easy. Just give them a haircut. And I would suggest that whatever you grow be sure that it's something that's edible. And so the best choices are cool season crops, like leafy greens or herbs or edible flowers. As you mentioned, Fred. But I would forget about growing something like tomato microgreens because they're not edible. You know they contain solanine, which is toxic. I would say just be sure that anything that you grow for microgreens needs to be edible. They need to be an edible flower or an herb that would be edible as its mature counterpart. Anything in the Brassica or cabbage family would be perfect. So arugala, broccoli, cabbage, Kale, Kohlrabi, even radishes. And speaking of radish, I just ran across a variety that is not hairy. Radishes have a hairy leaf. And I'm kind of a textural person, it kind of disturbs me a bit to have this hairiness on my tongue when I eat radish leaves. But there's a new variety out that is hairless. It's carried by Kitazawa Seed, I think they're in the Bay Area. And it's called, I don't know how to even how to say, Saisai. So if you want to grow radishes and you're bothered by the hairiness of the leaves of radishes, that's a variety that you can grow. Anyway, you can also grow things like chard, beets, peas, nasturtiums, any annual herbs like basil or cilantro or parsley would work well as well.


Farmer Fred: 

We'll have a link to Kitazawa Seed. they're based in Berkeley or Oakland will have a link to Kitazawa Seed in the show notes. They have a lot of great Asian vegetables that would be ideal for this situation that we're talking about.


Gail Pothour:

Oh yeah, the bok choy and pak choi and all those Asian greens are perfect for growing as microgreens.


Farmer Fred: 

And to go back to Johnny's Seeds list of microgreen varieties that are fast growing, they include borage, celosia, salad Burnett, Sorrell, arugala, broccoli, cabbage, the Chinese cabbages, collard, cress, if you want to grow that. Kale, I'm going in alphabetical order, you can probably tell, Kohlrabi, mizuna mustards, pak choi, like we mentioned, they may mention several radish varieties. And something that I'm not familiar with called tatsoi.


Gail Pothour: 

Yeah, those would all be perfect. All are cool season crops. And they're ideal for growing microgreens. I do want to mention that when you are growing the microgreens, I think I mentioned earlier, if you're recycling a container, be sure it's clean, you don't want any contamination. And you don't need to have a deep container either. Something that just has an inch or two of soil, because the roots are not going to be growing long enough to need a deeper container in order to develop the roots, because you're going to harvest them in a week or two. And then after you plant your seeds, put them on the soil surface kind of tamp them in a little bit, maybe sprinkle on a little more potting mixture, and give them a spritz. So put on your plastic wrap or whatever you're using for a dome. Hold in the humidity. As soon as the seeds germinate, take that lid off, take it off the heat and put it under light, whatever lights your windowsill or grow lights that you're using. And then when you continue to water, start watering from the bottom. So whatever tray you have your container in, fill that with water set the container down, let it soak up from the bottom and remove it, let it drain, pour the water out of the bottom tray. Because if you start watering from the top, once those plants get to grow, they're really fragile and you can knock them over and you know kind of smashed them a little bit so it's easier to water them from the bottom once they have germinated.


Farmer Fred: 

Unless you have a really fine mister for a watering system indoors, to do that.


Gail Pothour: 

And I have done that. But I have noticed that the plants get a little bit taller, you know, I like them an inch or two tall before I harvest them. When even with my fine Mister, it does tend to weight them down and knock them down.


Farmer Fred: 

among the slower growing microgreens that you can grow indoors and these take about 16 to 25 days to get up to an inch or two tall, basil, who thought of that basil, cilantro, dill, fennel, marigolds even, and among the slow growing vegetables and agait slow is only 16 to 25 days. That's not bad. Amaranth, Bulls Blood beets, the yellow beets, carrots, chard that you mentioned earlier, even dandelions, purslane, scallions, there's a lot out there that you can be growing indoors as microgreens. So it might be ideal to have two trays. if not more than two trays, one with the fast growing varieties and one with the slower growing varieties.


Gail Pothour: 

What I did is I when I first started out I combined several different varieties in one small little tray and then when I was ready to harvest the quick growing ones, it was kind of hard to do without damaging the ones that were still growing. So I would recommend growing them in separate trays. Or if you can identify the ones that germinate at the same rate, you could mix them that way. But if you want to have a mix of microgreens it might be better just to grow some small containers of individuals and then mix them after you harvest them. That's kind of the easier way to go.


Farmer Fred: 

I guess one idea might be to save your old egg cartons, punch a small hole in the bottom of each of the cells, and grow it inside egg cartons.


Gail Pothour: 

Oh, that's a thought I had never occurred to me to do that. But you certainly could. Ordinarily something that small and shallow is not recommended for growing plants because it takes longer for the plant to grow to seedling size if you're growing for seedlings, and there's not enough root space. But for microgreens because they don't grow that long, only a week or two, that shallow egg carton should be ideal. Also, you don't have to be very exact.


Farmer Fred: 

When you plant the seeds for micro greens, you can actually sow them rather thickly and definitely don't use the spacing indicated on seed packets. If you look at that Johnny's selected seeds suggestions for planting micro greens, they say that sowing six to eight large seeds per square inch is about right. And if they're small seeds, about 10 to 12 per square inch. And you know, you just just kind of eyeball it when you put those seeds in. And I would imagine, t o, that since microgreens re harvested well before they re ch maturity, they don't need to be thinned. And since they re growing for such a short ti e, they probably don't need to be fertilized either, do they?


Gail Pothour: 

Right.


Farmer Fred: 

Growing microgreens is easy, but I think one very important tip is use as you alluded to earlier, use a seed starting mix for your soilless mix. You don't want to use soil from the garden. Why wouldn't you want to use soil from the garden?


Gail Pothour: 

For a number of reasons. Soil out of your garden will undoubtedly contain micro organisms that could cause disease. Fungal spores. Things like that you don't want to have those micro organisms in your starting mix. Because it can affect the germination of the seeds, it could cause damping off, some other diseases. Plus garden soil is pretty dense. It's not fluffy and doesn't let a lot of oxygen in, it's fine for growing out in the garden. But in containers, any type of container garden soil is not recommended because it is too dense and water can't percolate through it very well. And it just doesn't allow enough oxygen exchange for the plants' roots. So get a good germination mix or seed starting mix or even potting soil, which are generally peat based or coir, which is from coconut husks, and perlite, vermiculite, things like that, things that allow for drainage. They can hold water, but it does allow a lot of oxygen and air to get in there. So something that is fluffy. And it's usually a commercial mix that you buy. So that's what I recommend highly.


Farmer Fred: 

Exactly. And you don't want to buy a bag labeled garden soil mix, either.


Gail Pothour: 

right, right, and actually anything that has compost in it unless it's commercially composted, I would steer away from that. I would hesitate to add the compost that I make in my compost pile, because there still could be some diseased spores in there and things like that. So I would stick with something that has peat or Sphagnum moss or coir with perlite, vermiculite.


Farmer Fred: 

Right, yeah, peat, perlite, vermiculite is the usual combination in those seed starting mixes. And one tip though, for peat moss, and for that matter, coir. They are very difficult to keep moist. And one easy trick is to when you buy a bag of the seed starting mix, cut off the top, set the bag outside upright, fill it with water, and let it sit for a few hours in all that water. And that will then pre-moisten it and then you don't have to worry about the chance of it drying out as you're growing your microgreens.


Gail Pothour: 

Right. So whatever potting mixture you're using, be sure it is pre-moistened. So in the container that I have my potting soil, I make sure that it's moist, I then put that in my container, my deli container, whatever I'm using, tap it lightly, and then put in the seeds and water again. If you're putting the seeds directly in a dry potting media, it might be very difficult to get the whole area moistened. If you're watering from the top, be sure it's pre moistened before you plant the seed.


Farmer Fred: 

So after these microgreens are about an inch or two tall and you cut them off at the soil line with scissors, what do you do with them, then Gail?


Gail Pothour: 

Well, they are pretty fragile. So it's recommended that you harvest them just before you need them. So you've prepared your meal and you want to sprinkle them on a salad, go cut them and sprinkle them on your salad. However, they are able to be stored in the refrigerator. So once they're cut, put them in a plastic bag with the paper towel, and they could store for several days. But what I learned the last time I did microgreens I had a small deli container with mustard microgreens, I think it was, and I didn't use it all. I stuck the whole container in the refrigerator. And it lasted for several weeks. So then I was able to bring the container out, harvest what I wanted and put it back in. I didn't even put a plastic bag or anything over it, it was just a container itself in the refrigerator. So if you are using a small enough container, you can do that, it works great. I wouldn't recommend putting a big flat into refrigerator. But anyway I was able to keep the microgreens fresh, they didn't continue to grow because the cold kind of stopped their growth. But it kept them fresh for at least two weeks.


Farmer Fred: 

Two weeks. Wow.


Gail Pothour:

I was amazed.


Farmer Fred: 

So that if you find out that your family has a favorite one or two microgreen varieties that they really like that would be a good idea is to grow them in smaller containers that when you're ready to harvest them, you can just stick it in the refrigerator.


Gail Pothour: 

Right, I wouldn't recommend it for something like basil. Basil is pretty tender and when you store basil the herbs you know if you buy a bunch of basil or harvest a big bunch of basil, if you put it in refrigerated the leaves tend to turn black. So it isn't a great thing to do with basil because it doesn't respond to cold temperatures very well. But most others, the brassicas or anything in the cabbage family, the cool season crops would be just fine in the refrigerator.


Farmer Fred: 

And ladies and gentlemen, that's how you get dirt under your fingernails in the wintertime.


Gail Pothour:

Absolutely.


Farmer Fred: 

Yes, that's what we're going for here. And again, in today's show notes, you're going to find a complete list of resources where you can find out more information about microgreens as well as the seed propagation kits, and a lot more. We've been talking with Sacramento County Master Gardener Gail Pothour. Gail, thanks for turning us on to microgreens. Something to do, something the whole family can do, indoors during the winter.


Gail Pothour: 

Thank you, Fred.


BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER: ALL ABOUT GARLIC


[00:32:30] 

Farmer Fred: 

In warmer sections of the country, now through December is garlic planting time. And, if you live elsewhere and have a few weeks before the ground freezes over, you can be planting garlic cloves, as well. But which varieties do you choose? How do you plant and care for garlic plants? How do you harvest them? And, what are you going to do with all that garlic? In this week’s Beyond the Garden Basics podcast and newsletter, we tackle those questions, including a slow cooker recipe, perfect for holiday get-togethers, that uses two-thirds of a cup of minced garlic.

For current newsletter subscribers, look for the All About Garlic podcast and newsletter, in the Friday, November 25th edition of the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter, it’s in your email. Or, start a subscription, it’s free!  Find the link in today’s show notes or sign up at the newsletter link at our homepage, garden basics dot net. 


Farmer Fred: 

[00:33:32] 

The Garden Basics With Farmer Fred podcast comes out once a week, on Fridays. Plus the newsletter podcast, that comes with the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter, continues, also released on Fridays. Both are free and are brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. The Garden Basics podcast is available wherever podcasts are handed out, and that includes our home page, Garden Basics dot net. , where you can also sign up for the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast. That’s Garden Basics dot net. or use the links in today’s show notes.  And thank you so much for listening.

House Strip Planting Ideas
Smart Pots!
Dave Wilson Nursery
Growing Microgreens
Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter