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Growing Your Salad Greens |
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Growing your salad greens is basically divided into two groups, the Bulk group and the Flavour group.
The Bulk Group:- consists of fast growing vegetables that can be re-sown frequently, we generally refer to these as sprouts, there are basically two ways of sprouting.
Vertical Sprouts are grown in shallow trays, generally 1-3 weeks, they are allowed to grow into a green leaf stage, this is the most nutritious method especially when you are fertilising with a high-quality liquid seaweed concentrate. This is the same principle for growing wheat grass but instead of juicing the grass we are eating the leaves. The best vegetable we have found for this is the pea family, we supply 2 types of peas, the one that you see in supermarket packages, labelled as a Snow pea with just a couple of leaves and a long stem, this is actually a Field pea, the advantage of the Field pea is that it is cheaper than the Snow pea and is harvested from 1-1.5 weeks. The other pea is a dwarf variety of Snow pea that is best left for 2-2.5 weeks, the advantage of this variety is that it will produce a large group of deep green leaves, this is basically 3 to 4 times as much as the Field pea, however it does take longer and costs more, see the first line of pictures for a comparison. In our Snow pea growing kit we include 500g of each so you can make your own decision as to which one is best for you, or as I do, grow both. Planting 3 of these using our special shallow self watering pots will take you about 12 minutes once a week, if you haven't eaten them, just cut them and store them as shown in the picture, cut fresh and stored this way, they will last at least a week in the fridge with minimal deterioration.
Loose Sprouts are where you soak & wash seeds morning & evening for 3-5 days & then eat. The best device that we have found for this is a colander with as small holes as possible. Rinse, drain and cover with a tea towel is the simple procedure. There are many seeds that can be done this way the ones we have found to be the easiest & most rewarding are a mixture of fenugreek and alfalfa, fenugreek has wonderful healing and purifying properties and keeps the alfalfa from clumping together. In my opinion the best loose sprouting seed, is the green lentil, it has a wonderful nutty texture and is available for eating and storage after 3 days, both of these, if stored correctly, can be kept fresh for 2 weeks giving you a cycle of 4 days sprouting 10 days eating 4 days sprouting etc.
The Flavour Group:- consists mainly of herbs grown outside that will grow for many months, generally you only need a few of the choicest leaves to add that interesting collage of flavours. In the first picture we have two types of Basil, the normal broadleaf Basil is growing in the same pot as Thai basil, which has a slight lemon flavour, followed by that we have Italian parsley and in the two hanging baskets we have Marjoram & Oregano. In the two pictures next to it we have Coriander and normal Mint. In the next two pictures we have Vietnamese mint and of course Rocket letuce. Growing herbs is generally quite easy, the main trick is to either pick the caterpillars off regularly or spray once a week with garlic spray. Bottom pictures, Cress and Fenugreek in shallow self watering pots.
Select the Products tab above for a quick visual guide to the various product categories.
For More Info. Click On-> Vertical Sprouting in Trays and Benefits of Wheatgrass.pdf or Loose Sprouters for Alfalfa, Fenugreek, MungBean etc.pdf
If you would like to attend a training course on how to prepare live food which also incorporates step-by-step instructions on sprouting using the systems seen on this website, you can visit this website www.Conscious-Choice.com/Classes.html.
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