Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Mini Garden: Sprouts

Since my desert gardening skills are extremely lacking, I have decided to give growing sprouts a try. After all, sprouts only take 3-5 days so I will know soon enough if I have succeeded or failed. With my other plants, I haul water to them, shade them, protect them and fret over them for months only to find that they die or something eats them before I reap any benefits.

When I was little, my mother sprouted alfalfa sprouts. I don't remember her doing it very often but it is a fond memory so I want to try it myself. When I mentioned it to the people at work my boss told me that he had a sprouter and he did grow his own sprouts. He brought some in for me to try. Then he offered to bring in the sprouter and some mung beans so that I can try it out myself while he is out of town.


I started soaking my mung beans tonight. I'll drain them in the morning and then the fun begins. In 3-5 days I should have some sprouts to eat.

If you want to learn more about sprouts, all of the different kinds of seeds that you can sprout, and where to buy them, take a look at this site: sprout people I never knew so many things could be sprouted.

There is also a good article from Mother Earth News:Kitchen Counter Gardening

Perhaps, if I am successful, this will help me extend my fresh vegetables until the end of the month. When I don't feel like going to the store but all of my vegetables are gone I can grow my own mini greens indoors. Usually growing sprouts is suggested for people who live in snowy climates but the same theory works in the desert. When the temperature climbs over 100 degrees, gardening is tough. And another plus, sprouts use a lot less water! I'm all for that.

5 comments:

Frugalchick said...

I love sprouts! (Mung) bean sprout fritters is my favorite. How will you be using your sprouts?

Daizy said...

I need ideas Frugalchick! I have only eaten them raw on salads and cooked in Chinese food.

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

They are good with Pad Thai, other than that, I am clueless. They remind me of those Chia pet things.

Daizy said...

That's what my sister said! I'm growing a chia pet. Except mine are fat sprouts.

Anonymous said...

Think I'm going to try doing some of those myself. They taste delicious too :)