How to grow Sunflower Sprouts

Looking out at your garden in mid February, with nighttime temperatures still dipping down into the teens, any thoughts of fresh greens may seem futile. Fear not!! Bring your garden inside, and grow some micro-greens. You can enjoy the fresh taste of just-picked produce year around.

You might be familiar with those salad sprout (such as alfalfa or bean), which are sprouted in a jar or other special containers without soil, but micro greens are grown in containers with potting soil or another growing medium.

With a few simple steps and a couple of readily available items, you can gaze out over your micro-farm on the kitchen table and be proud of the farmer you have become.

Sunflower sprouts are baby sunflowers. They make an inexpensive and tasty nutritional addition to any meal or smoothie. We use them on sandwiches and toppings for soup. We stuff them in veggie burritos and tacos or simply toss them in with other baby greens for an amazing salad.

Fresh, crunchy, and slightly nutty in flavor they can be grown indoors all year round, providing lovely fresh greens in the depths of winter.

They can also be grown outdoors when the weather is warm. Sunflower greens are one of the best things you can add to your diet to improve your overall health and well being. They are delicious, nutritious, they make for a beautiful presentation and they are fun and super easy to grow.

Sunflower greens are a nutritional powerhouse packed with vitamins A, B complex, D, and E; they also contain minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and zinc. In addition to these vitamins and minerals, sunflower greens are a rich source of lecithin which helps break down fatty acids into an easily digestible water soluble form, and chlorophyll which benefits many functions within the body, including building blood supply, revitalizing tissue, calming inflammation, activating enzymes, and deodorizing the body.

Sunflower greens are also a fantastic source of protein and can easily supply you with all the protein your body can use! You can harvest a new crop every 7 to 8 days.

A great source for purchasing your in-shell sunflower seeds is http://sproutpeople.org/. Their site is  loaded with a huge assortment of seeds, sprouting supplies and packed with tons of info on the subject.

Growing Sunflower Sprouts

This is how I grow sunflower sprouts. You can usually always find a tray or two growing at our place . They're so delicious, I have found myself snacking on them straight from the tray.

1. Soak a cup of unhulled sunflower seeds for 8 hours or overnight, and then rinse and drain them. Since the sunflower seeds float, I place the seeds in a mason jar and fill it with water all the way to the top. Then I place the lid and flip the jar over for the day. You can try whatever works for you, just be sure the seeds are fully submerged.
2. Prepare a seed tray, or other container, with a good quality compost. I like to make sure the compost is nice and moist (but not flooded), so that I don't have to disturb the seeds for a couple of days,  Make sure that you gently push the compost right into the corners of the tray. Pour the soaked seeds into the middle of the tray, and gently spread them out evenly. It's fine if they touch, but try not to overlap them. Using the second tray or your hands, gently press the seeds into the soil.

3. Cover the seeds with a second tray, and leave in a warm place. This second tray helps keep the moisture in and the light out. I like to put some compost into the second (top) tray to add a little weight so that the little sprouts have something to push against. Its some pretty cool plant physics. They push up so the roots can grow down. Equal and opposite reaction. I am always amazed how strong they are. After only a few days, the young sprouts have lifted the upper tray nearly 2 inches.

4. Once this has happened, remove the top tray. The sprouts with be white and ready for some  photosynthesis action. Let them see the light!!!

5. Check daily to see if they need watering. Water gently, and keep out of direct sunlight. I grow our greens under a couple of full spectrum fluorescent lights but any sunny area in your house will do. Just remember, no direct sunlight. The little guys can get sunburned.  They will need more water if the temperature's hot, and less if it's cool. Over watering makes them prone to mold and rot, while under watering may mean they die of thirst, and will certainly stunt them.

6. They are ready to harvest when their smooth seed leaves are large and green, and the second hairier leaves have not yet grown. Most of the husks will have fallen off the sprouts by this point, but you will need to pull a few off by hand.

The two trays above are ready for harvesting. The one on the left is sunflowers, the right, buckwheat  ( grown using the same method).  You could  leave them for another day or two, which would give most of the smaller sprouts time to shed their husks and open their seed leaves.

To harvest the sprouts, cut off near the base with sharp clean scissors, rinse them in cold water to remove any traces of soil, and spin dry in a salad spinner.

Enjoy fresh in your salad or green smoothie, or store in an airtight container in the fridge, where they will keep fresh for 5-7 days, providing they're almost dry, and all the husks have been removed.

Happy sprouting. Now get out there and micro-farm!!!