Microgreens:  A Guide To Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens, by Eric Franks & Jasmine Richardson

This book is almost 200 pages long and is one of two books I have read recently on the subject of microgreens and why the authors think that they are such a big deal.  And while I must admit that they are not something I have been familiar with before they are certainly something that I can see myself enjoying a great deal.  I am not sure if I will ever get around to growing them, mind you.  That said, they are certainly something I would enjoy trying if I happened to visit someone’s place and they had plenty of treys of the microgreens around.  There are clearly some good uses for these kinds of plants and their apparent strong flavor as well as the speed at which they can be grown are certainly positives in my own book as far as plants are concerned.  If I am by no means as bad about plants as some members of my family are, I have never considered myself particularly skilled when it came to getting my food from the land, and this book is one that provides at least a bit of encouragement as far as changing that at some point in the future should it become necessary.

This book is divided into several sections, beginning with a foreword and introduction that express the authors’ purpose.  After that the author asks why one should grow microgreens and shows it as suitable for the commercial grower looking for quick turnaround times between planting and harvest as well as children and people looking to grow their own food in tight spaces.  After that the author discusses the supposed health benefits of microgreens and then discusses the materials that one needs to grow, especially good seeds, which appear to be the most difficult aspect of growing microgreens well.  The authors share a ten-step process of how to grow microgreens from filling one’s treys with soil and sowing and covering seeds to watering and covering with lids to watering germinating seeds, providing a good spot to grow, maintaining growing seeds, harvesting, and washing and storing one’s harvested greens.   The authors then share insight on specific plants and their taste and how easy they are to grow before discussing composting, recipes, and troubleshooting about various problems that one can face.  The book then ends with recommended books and resources, many of them online, as well as sources and an index.

Indeed, in looking at this book it was easy for me to see a variety of reasons why microgreens would be so popular for the sort of urban hipster audience this book is clearly aimed at.  For one, the trade-offs involved of spending more money for something that grows faster in very little space are appealing to more affluent urban dwellers as opposed to poorer rural dwellers with more space and time but less cash.  Additionally, this book is focused on plants that are a bit off the beaten path and that are appealing for those are already somewhat well-versed in contemporary cuisine, especially but not only Asian cuisine.  In addition, I was struck by this particular book and the way that it echoed concerns I had read elsewhere about the desirability of encouraging children to grow microgreens, as it would appear as if the authors think that making microgreens popular involves at least a little bit of indoctrination so that children think of it as something that is fun and are not like adults who might think growing veggies in a trey with growing material in the matter of weeks might be a bit weird.