Microgreens in pots

[TheAwfulToad]

Following my post about growing your own veg in pots, here's a picture I got from the restaurant showing our original setup. This was the first one we ever did, and it's been through several planting cycles. The original intent was to have microgreens and garnish on hand outside the kitchen (that's the kitchen wall). We have a larger setup at the farm that's a bit more sophisticated; we use that to grow full-size lettuce.

What you can see here is some basil, which is growing faster than it's being cut (ideally it would be harvested heavily to keep it bushy) and a local variety of spinach for microgreens (this is harvesting size). The pot at the left has just been cleared and replanted, hence nothing to see.

At the back of the pots you can see a bundle of sticks, which serves the same purpose as the plastic-bottle funnel described in my article: it directs the water UNDER the sand substrate. The pots drain from the opposite end (at the foreground) into the big green container on the floor. The water is transferred to the bucket and recycled through twice a day, with the addition of some liquid compost (not visible here). Notice the little stick for maintaining a slow (but not too slow) drain rate.

It takes zero effort to maintain these - a couple of minutes a day to flood them with water, and occasional re-seeding.

[lucigret]

My basil has gone mad in my kitchen windowsill, I just pick the leaves and eat them and add them to my salads😊

I love the idea of micro spinach, so much prefer raw rather than cooked. Do you use a particular variety?

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to lucigret]

yeah, the basil just grows like triffids. In retrospect we didn't need to plant that much of it!

I'm afraid I've no idea what the spinach actually is. I believe it's amaranth family, but it's referred to colloquially as 'spinach' here and eaten as young green leaves. We add it to salads.

[moreless]

I'm new to the grow your own club, but am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm experimenting with different crops, with limited success, so far, but the fun is in the trying!

Last year I managed courgettes and chard, this year, we have the same chard, which I keep cropping, peas, leeks, spring onions, beetroot, aubergines and strawberries. A motley assortment, but all that's left of the original sowing

It keeps me off the streets though!