Brighten up your cooking recipes with sunflower microgreens. Now that you’ve grown your first batch of sunnies, here are some tricks on how to use them in your dishes. Microgreens are known as small, but they’re actually quite big in size. While these little greenery are known as micro, they’re on the bigger side when compared to other kinds of microgreens (such as blueberries). That means they’ll grow in much larger chunks than traditional vegetables and will keep their shape better when cooked.
Since they’re tiny, you won’t need a large number of them in order to get plenty. However, you should store extra sunflower seeds in the refrigerator so that you can have a supply of them if you need them at a moment’s notice. You can either germinate the seeds in water or let them go until they dry in an air tight glass jar. Either way, once you’re ready to use the sprouts, just put them into a food processor or a blender and process them.
Sunflower seeds should be stored in a food grade hydrogen peroxide tray at room temperature. The tray should be covered with plastic wrap or an aluminum sheet. Leave the tray in the refrigerator overnight and when you open it the following morning, it should be fully dried. If you want to use the sprouts right away, you can soak them overnight in water and then fry them in a pan over medium heat until they are translucent.
When you get ready to plant your microgreen seeds, make sure that the sunflowers that you have sown are tall and have a fair amount of dead leaves on them. You don’t want to try growing your microgreens with very little or no dead foliage on them. Once the seedlings have sprouted, you should place them directly into your garden or a container outdoors.
One of the challenges when starting out with an organic garden is that it’s difficult to know exactly how much soil to add with the sunflower seeds. A general rule of thumb is that the more pennies you buy, the healthier your soil will be. Your soil should have sufficient moisture but it should not be over-watered either. Once you know how much soil you’ll need, the next step in how to use sunflower microgreens is to make sure that the area where you’re planting them has good drainage.
After you’ve planted your microgreens, you need to take care of them properly if you want them to produce healthy seeds. During their first year, the sunflower seeds need to be kept under plastic or aluminum foil so they don’t dry out. This should be done while the tray is in the sun, as it will be the most optimal temperature for planting. When the tray is exposed to shade, you should move it to a shaded area of your garden or backyard. You also want to move the tray about once a year, to allow the seeds to get air.
The last thing to know about how to use sunflower microgreens effectively is how to prune your plants. When your sunflower sprouts start to grow, they will produce little leaves. In order to harvest your sprouts for added nutrients, you will need to cut these off. You should do this pruning around the start of each growing season.
Spreading out your sunflowers will help keep them healthy. They will also prevent them from clumping together. If you spread them too thin, you might not even get any sunflowers at all! Make sure that when you are planting sunflower seeds, you spread them out evenly. It’s not only easier for your plants, but it’s healthier for you too!