Sustainable Farm Journal

In my first successful harvest of microgeens, sunflowers yielded .24 pounds from one tray, and radish also yielded about the same amount at .23 pounds. The sunflower tray was sparse and could have been sown more densely. The radishes took a tumble in the greenhouse after I bumped into them, so I could not harvest the whole tray. Therefore, I expect that average yield from each 10-20 tray will be a quarter pound.

After almost a year of trying to grow microgreens for market and failing with each batch, I've finally had success. By using a mixture of coconut coir and perlite, and by placing my 10x20 trays in the natural sunlight of a temperature controlled greenhouse, my test trays of spicy radish microgreens and mild kale microgeens flourished into a healthy crop in 10 days. A test tray of sunflower microgreens is showing much better progress, but has not yet produced the results I'm looking for. I think that I have kept the growing medium too moist and a little bit of damping-off has occurred. I don't know if it is the sunlight that has brought about the desired results as compared to the artificial compact fluorescent lighting that I had been using before, or if its the fact that I have abandoned Sure-to-Grow brand growing pads in favor of a more traditional growing medium. It could be also a combination of these two which have produced a wholly improved growing environment fo...

After several rounds of failed microgreens using Sure-To-Grow growing pads, I've now opted for coconut coir. The problems that I've had with the pads are that they either dry out too fast between waterings and stay soggy too long after a watering. They also seem prone to growing mold. My trial microgreens crops are radish, kale and sunflower (one tray of each), started today, November 30, 2015. I'll now see if I can be successful with a more traditional medium. I suspect that the pads are a poor medium, and that the coir will provide a more evenly moist growing environment.

Today, I harvested the first greenhouse squash. It was about the size of a regular, yellow squash but was green. The texture was smooth, and the flavor was no different from an open pollinated squash from the garden.

Last night, about 2 inches of rain fell. Today's highs were in the 60s, and tonight will be chilly but well above freezing. The soil is too wet to work in the field or in the raised bed garden.

After several failed attempts to grow microgreens, I have started several new trays today. I have a shelf dedicated to microgreens productions, now. It has an array of lights to help their development.

This week of variety of springtime wildflowers bloomed. There is a beautiful showing of bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, and verbena along with false garlic and dandelions.