This post contains items gifted from Silly Greens.
Did you know you can receive micro greens to grow at home by post? Me neither, but you can - and that’s where Silly Greens comes in.
Silly Greens post seeds that grow straight out of the box, the micro greens, which are seedlings of herbs and veg, and they add a burst of flavour to your meals. They’re short-lived crops, which cut and come again and arrive through your letterbox ready to go, no need to do anything other than open the box.
And it really was as simple as opening the box. In your first pack there’s a leaflet explaining more about the seeds, and the seaweed jelly that they grow in - that helps keep the seeds in place during their journey, and keeps them hydrated too - when they arrive they are well on the way to germinating so you don’t have too long to wait to see them spring into action. And when your micro greens are finished the jelly shrinks back and because it’s natural it can be composted, and the packaging can be recycled.
Radish, Rocket and Turnip
My box of micro greens arrived a week or so before we headed off to my brother’s wedding in Yorkshire last month, and so to get the most of them they came with us. Of course they did! MOH wasn’t sure I was serious to start with, but then remember he knows me well and realised I was serious. In the wedding hotel, they happily sat on the window ledge. They moved on with us when we headed for our week in the North East and were a great way to pep up salads, and even in our burgers - in fact, with less condiments available than we’d have at home it was a great way to add some zing.
The seeds in my first box were pungent, peppery radish, a classic rocket and an unexpected inclusion, turnip. The picture below was taken three days after they arrived, and as you can see they’re well on the way to growing into proper micro greens. You can probably also see some root hairs, or fluff - don’t worry - the booklet explained simply that “root hairs were good, mould was bad” so all is well.
Not unsurprisingly the radish were quick to get growing, much like when you plant them in the garden or vegetable plot. They’re a quick cropping crop which is why you can grow them alongside slower growing crops there.
The advice that comes with the seeds is to keep them covered until the seeds lift the card, and suggests you can also weigh down the card. I didn’t believe that the little seeds would be able to lift the card. However I trusted the advice and even so was surprised when they actually did. Isn’t nature wonderful?
For me the rocket was the slowest growing, and as you can see on the card above it suggests covering it over will help it stretch - I kept mine covered the longest of the three, but had the least success with the rocket, but even so they still grew, just perhaps not quite as long (or tall) as I thought.
Each box is £5 including postage and packing (which is all recyclable); the boxes change each week and there’s details about each micro green on the Silly Greens site. If you’re wondering why you’d want to grow these at home, that’s a fair point. Apart from their ease of growing and their versatility, growing them at home means they’re fresher than buying them ready cut from the supermarket - plus you get to see the seeds grow, and to see them lift that card (they really do!)
We enjoyed adding these to our meals, mostly sprinkled over the top of salads - which worked well for us. I like salads, but I do get bored of them quite quickly so I’m always looking for new additions to change them slightly, and these worked for us as they kept on growing for a couple of weeks.
My second box arrived yesterday - and this month’s box includes a heritage pea mix, coriander and amaranth and a spicy mix. The box is opened and the card is waiting (and weighted) to be lifted. I’ll share how I get on with these.
With thanks to Silly Greens for providing this box of micro greens for the purposes of this review.
