In the market for an easy way to grow microgreens? The Microgreens Kitchen Garden Kit from Knowing Nature can help you get started quickly and easily.

What Are Microgreens?

But first, let’s talk about what microgreens are before we launch into how to grow them with this kit. Microgreens are the first few leaves of edible herbs and veggies that leaf out just after the first two cotyledon leaves emerge from a germinating seed. These leaves are super nutritious—they have to be in order to give a tiny seedling a chance to survive. According to WebMD, microgreens can have up to 40% more beneficial nutrients and other components than the full-sized versions of themselves.

If you are thinking microgreens don’t have a lot of flavor because they are so small, you would be wildly mistaken. Microgreens of herbs and veggies such as cilantro, radish, arugula, daikon, mustards deliver fresh flavor to salads, soups, pasta, smoothies—pretty much anything you eat. You can also grow microgreens of broccoli, kale, cabbage if the spice level of the aforementioned veg are a bit much for you—and you’ll still get all that nutrition.

Microgreens Kitchen Garden Kit

Okay, back to this kit. I actually met Rachel Haber, the person who founded Knowing Nature, the company behind this Microgreens Kitchen Garden Kit. Rachel had spent many years as a corporate lawyer, but decided to leave that position to help kids and adults build their appreciation for growing their own foods. And microgreens are an easy and accessible way for pretty much anyone to get started on their food-growing journey.

The kit includes a reusable self-watering growing tray and enough coco coir discs and seeds to grow three crops of microgreens. They include broccoli, spicy purple radish and a colorful salad mix of kohlrabi and red cabbage. Other seed types are available for purchase. The growing tray is sized to fit on a windowsill—8.5 x 5.25 x 1.8 inches. It actually comes in two parts—a tray within a tray, if you will. The outer tray is solid to hold water. The inner tray has a few holes that allow for the coir discs to absorb water. To use, just fill that inner tray with the coir discs, pop some seeds into those discs and add water to the bottom tray. The coir will absorb the water and puff up.

Your microgreens will start to grow within days and will be ready for harvest in 10 days. Don’t be concerned if you have low light—after all, seeds typically germinate in low light anyway.

In addition to this kit Knowing Nature also offers a range of different seeds, extra growing discs and trays in different colors. My suggestion is to get a kit and a second tray. This will let you have a constant crop of microgreens growing on the windowsill. The kit is BPA-free, dishwasher safe and made in the USA.

The whole process is fun to watch and educational. But it’s not just a fun science project for kids. This would be a great gift for anyone, really—teachers, garden-loving friends and folks who may not be able to garden outside.