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By: Pamela Walsh

I decided to grow some microgreens over the winter, so I ordered broccolli seeds from Mumm’s, in Saskatchewan, Canada. I’ve never grown microgreens before, but I watched a few how-to videos on YouTube that were very instructive and made the process seem simple and straight forward. The Mumm’s website has a note with the broccolli seeds that says, “Current lot is a little slower growing. DRAIN VERY WELL!”.

I live in a tiny house and don’t have much room for a “grow-op”, so I kept this experiment small and used one round 5.5” diameter take-out container for the microgreens garden.

Spoiler alert: This experiment was unsuccessful.

Day 1 – January 4, 2018

• I used a shot glass to measure 1 oz. of seeds
• Soaked them in 750 ml yogurt container of water and 1 tsp of hydrogen peroxide for 1/2 hour, to kill any salmonella that might be lurking in the seeds. Afterwards, I discovered I should have only soaked them for 5 minutes in the hydrogen peroxide solution
• I rinsed the seeds well and continued to soak them in plain water for another 24 hours (I thought this would speed up the growing process)

Day 2 – January 5, 2018

• Put approximately 1.5” of soil in the container and added water. The soil I used was from a pile of top soil I had delivered in the fall
• Spread the seeds evenly over the soil
• Misted them with a bit of water, then covered them with a matching container to keep them in the dark to force the growing process

Day 3 – January 6, 2018

• The batch was a little smelly and had some white fuzz on it, but, according to the YouTube videos, the white fuzz is just tiny root hairs that are part of the germination process, are not harmful and should go away
• Did not mist with water today, because the soil seems too wet
• Kept the seeds covered

Day 4 – January 7, 2018

• The seeds are starting to sprout, and there was lots of white fuzz
• A little smelly, but not bad
• Did not mist with water, because soil is still very moist
• Kept the seeds covered

Day 5 – January 8, 2018

• Lots of white fuzz today
• The smell is a bit more intense
• Misted with water for first time
• Kept the seeds covered

Day 6 – January 9, 2018

• Even more white fuzz today
• Quite smelly
• Gave it a good misting
• Removed the lid and plants are now getting light 24/7 (using LED daylight bulb)
• Does not look like microgreens are thriving

Day 7 – January 10, 2018

• Patches of dead sprouts
• Lots of white fuzz
• Smell is intense

By Day 7 it was obvious my microgreens experiment was a huge flop. I think it’s because initially I had too much water in the soil, and possibly because I soaked the seeds too long in the hydrogen peroxide solution, and maybe I should have exposed the seeds to light sooner? I will try this experiment again soon and will post the results – good or bad.