How to grow spinach microgreens is very easy. It is a matter of having the right equipment and materials to get started. Thankfully, most of the materials needed to grow your spinach microgreens at home are easily available and is often all around us. In this guide, I will be showing you how to go about growing spinach microgreens quickly even without prior experience.
Spinach microgreens benefits
But first, why is it that a rapidly increasing number of people are interested in growing microgreens at home? The answer is that not only are microgreens tasty in salads and sandwiches, microgreens are the most nutritious version of the actual plant. In other words, there is greater nutritional benefit in eating lettuce microgreens or spinach microgreens than mature lettuce leaves or spinach leaves.
The scientific name for spinach is Spinacia oleracea. Spinach has been associated with health benefits such as reducing the risk of cancer, managing high blood pressure and eye health (through the Lutein compound). Furthermore, spinach has Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K1, Folic Acid, Iron and Calcium.
Due to these health benefits, leafy green microgreens such as spinach are no longer only appreciated for the color, texture and taste they bring to the table. They are also now considered functional food with tangible nutritional benefits.
If mature spinach offers the benefits mentioned above, spinach microgreens benefits come intense and within a short period of time compared to their mature counterparts. Studies have shown that when you eat microgreens, you are eating multiple times over what would ordinarily be delivered by the mature counterpart of the microgreen type.
What you will need to grow your spinach microgreens
Here is a list that I have developed over time which summarizes what you will need to grow your own microgreens at home. This list is applicable to just about all microgreens types out there and is not only limited to growing spinach micros. If you need more insight on how to grow microgreens in general have a look here.
So you will need (follow links for recommended online supplier):-
- Seeds (supplier)
- Two trays, one with holes one without (supplier)
- Soil sifter (supplier)
- Soil
- Watering spray (supplier)
- Grow light (supplier)
- Grow room/shelf/stand (supplier)
How to practically grow spinach microgreens
Now that we have looked at the nutritional benefits of growing spinach microgreens and the required equipment and materials, let’s now turn to the practical steps of how to go about growing the micros…
1. Get your spinach seeds ready
You will obviously require spinach seeds to grow your microgreens. Now, some growers would first soak their seed say over 6 to 8 hours. This helps the seeds to germinate quicker. You may also do this with spinach seeds but I usually do this when growing peas microgreens.
More importantly, in as much as is possible avoid using chemically treated spinach seeds to grow your microgreens. This is because we harvest microgreens early and this increases the risk of ingesting toxic chemicals. If you can get non-treated non-GMO spinach seeds you may want to use these.
2. Get your soil & growing tray
Now take some soil. Which soil you may ask. In my experience, microgreens growing soil doesn’t have to be heavily fertilized as if we are growing the spinach to maturity. For the most part, your spinach microgreens will rely on the nutrients in the seed. Thus your soil growing medium can be your native soil scooped off the ground of your garden.
I prefer to sift the soil and only use the fine sifted soil which has no stones and other particles in it. This also makes it easier for my microgreens to germinate and flourish in this light type of soil.
So the soil sifter in the equipment list shared earlier above serves the purpose of sifting your soil. If you plan to grow microgreens a lot, it is a handy piece of equipment to invest in once and for all.
Next, take the fine sifted soil and fill your growing tray. Drench the soil in the tray with water. Let the soil be thoroughly soaked. You may want to use a gentle spray so as not to blow the soil out of the tray. The next watering after this will be after the seeds germinate.
Although nowadays there are standard trays being sold for growing microgreens, you can grow your micros successfully using other container types. One of my favorite containers are repurposed grocery punnets. These work well too. Note that the tray should have holes underneath for draining excess water.
3. Plant your spinach microgreens seeds
Now that the tray with soil is ready and watered, proceed to plant your spinach seed. The way to do it is to evenly spread the spinach seed on the surface of the wet soil in the tray. The seeds must be dense but evenly spread out. You will find that, compared to say cabbage, spinach seeds are much easier to handle and easily spread.
Once done, use your hand to gently press the spinach seed into the wet soil. The idea is not to have the seed sink in the soil but just to have a good sturdy contact with the wet soil.
4. Cover the tray and set aside
The first phase – the planting – is done. Now cover the tray and set aside in a cool, dark and dry place. Notice that we didn’t cover the seeds with soil. This is intentional, when growing microgreens it is not necessary to bury the seeds in soil although some use that approach.
You may use any suitable cover to create a dark environment inside your tray. If you have an extra tray you can flip it over the tray with the planted seeds to create a dom.
5. After germination, place tray under light source
After some 4 to 5 days, your spinach seeds should be fully germinated. Only then should you remove the tray from the dark conditions we created in #4 above. The tray should now be placed under an artificial light source. This is the reason why you will need LED lights as listed in the equipment.
Most microgreen growers never use natural light to grow microgreens. This is because sunlight is too harsh for the micros and will also distort taste and flavour. Second, natural light outside of direct sunlight will not encourage the microgreens to rapidly grow and grow straight up as you did get with LED lights.
6. Water your spinach microgreens
Next, once your spinach microgreens are sitting under the artificial light, it is time to water them. This will be the first time to water them since they were planted. Mold is a problem when growing microgreens.
To greatly reduce the risk of mold, avoid watering your microgreens directly from above. Place your tray in a bigger tray with water such that water simply sips through from the bottom. I show this microgreens watering method in full here.
Continue watering until time of harvest at about 10 or 11 days. Avoid over watering aiming to keep the soil moist but never soggy to avoid mold problems.
7. How to harvest spinach microgreens
Within 10 or so days, your spinach microgreens should be ready for harvest. Your microgreens should be harvested before they start developing true leaves. True leaves are indicative of changing taste and flavor as the plants progress towards becoming legitimate seedlings.
You may harvest your spinach microgreens and store them in the fridge for a few days. However, the rule of thumb when growing microgreens is that the closer to harvest the micros are consumed, the greater the flavor and taste. The longer you keep harvested microgreens in the fridge the more they loose their quality.
So this is it. This guide has shown how to grow spinach microgreens at home. As hopefully been also implied, with the right equipment and materials, even inexperienced beginners should find growing spinach microgreens super easy. Happy microgreening!
