Growing Together: Open Forum

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

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Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
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Hi Rachel,
I have done this last year! We used cocoa fibre to germinate the seeds. It was fun and worked well. It was helpful in a variety of ways: we could space kids out better in this time of physical distancing, the mini-gardens were easy to maintain, students could get close to the plants for making observations, and we could make a variety of measurements and observations and also have a delicious salad all within a couple of weeks. We are in Florida and the mini-gardens were grown outside on a covered porch, but if you had either sunny windows or grow lights you could do it inside.

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Danielle Feller
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Microgreens need watering everyday, how did you water/keep them alive over the weekends?

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Ivette Rios
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-05-2021 12:08:37 PM
From: Danielle Feller
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi Rachel,
I have done this last year! We used cocoa fibre to germinate the seeds. It was fun and worked well. It was helpful in a variety of ways: we could space kids out better in this time of physical distancing, the mini-gardens were easy to maintain, students could get close to the plants for making observations, and we could make a variety of measurements and observations and also have a delicious salad all within a couple of weeks. We are in Florida and the mini-gardens were grown outside on a covered porch, but if you had either sunny windows or grow lights you could do it inside.

------------------------------
Danielle Feller

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

In my experience, depending on where you have them, they need to be watered every few days. Putting them in direct sunlight will dry them out faster and will potentially burn them. The soil should be fairly dry before watering again. 

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Lauren Rust
Children 1st
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-18-2024 11:20:59 AM
From: Ivette Rios
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Microgreens need watering everyday, how did you water/keep them alive over the weekends?

------------------------------
Ivette Rios

Original Message:
Sent: 12-05-2021 12:08:37 PM
From: Danielle Feller
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi Rachel,
I have done this last year! We used cocoa fibre to germinate the seeds. It was fun and worked well. It was helpful in a variety of ways: we could space kids out better in this time of physical distancing, the mini-gardens were easy to maintain, students could get close to the plants for making observations, and we could make a variety of measurements and observations and also have a delicious salad all within a couple of weeks. We are in Florida and the mini-gardens were grown outside on a covered porch, but if you had either sunny windows or grow lights you could do it inside.

------------------------------
Danielle Feller

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

I forgot to add that I did this with Kindergarten, first grade and second grade.

------------------------------
Danielle Feller
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Not exactly microgreens, but I did this experiment with campers and the grass grows quickly enough to manage in a one week session. They can also draw on the CD cases with Sharpies, which is fun. 

https://www.rookieparenting.com/grow-a-cd-garden/

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Franke Smith
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Hey Rachel,

We haven't started our Microgreen program but plan to after Christmas break.

We have a rack similar to this one, with lights similar to these, zip tied to the bottom of each rack. Our plan is to plant on Mondays and harvest the following Monday, restart the trays and do it again. We are hoping to consistently supply our cafeteria with microgreens. This is a trial run for us before deciding if we want to invest in more racks and expand to other schools as well. I think soil and seed is going to be our biggest continuing expense. But we plan to purchase bulk seed so it will be cheaper in the long run. The rack and lights probably costed us $100-$150? I expect to spend at least $20 in seed and soil per month. Our students seem very excited about it now, but once it becomes a weekly activity, I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually saw it as a chore. Hopefully we can continue the excitement!

We are starting at our Alternative Center. So this will be high school age. This is intentional because the Alternative Center's schedule is a bit more flexible. We plan to test it at an elementary school as well.

I'll try to remember to follow up after a couple of weeks of growing. I hope this helps!

------------------------------
Kendall Slaughter
Farm to School Specialist
Springfield Public Schools
Springfield, Mo
keslaughter@spsmail.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Your microgreens question is interesting and as made me wonder about food safety in microgreens since I had heard of food safety issues with sprouts. After a little poking around, I came across the Master's thesis Food Safety Risk In an Indoor Microgreen System. While this is not oriented towards school gardening, it's definitely worth a look if for no other reason than to remind us of the importance of thorough hand washing and keeping the tools and materials we use clean.

I hadn't thought about microgreen farming with my 1st and 2nd graders during the winter months before your post, but I'm going to look into it now. Sounds like fun! Following up with a vinaigrette recipe on harvest day would make a great activity and something that could be sent home. Thanks for the great idea!

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[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Hey Rachel we grew sunflower seeds with the Pre-K class - they loved it and you have greens up in about 6 days. I used peat moss to plant them in but coco fiber would work too. I liked it because it was easy for the kids to participate putting handfuls of seeds on a layer of peat then I straightened them out a bit and we put a covering of peat on top. I put the tray with dome covering on top of the fridge (or any warm spot) then we had a little light to put them under but they are fine by a window too. The kids loved cutting them and just eating them straight from the tray then we had some with cream cheese on bagels.

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Patrice Porter
The Gardening Grandma
Big River SK
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

How did you water/keep them alive over the weekends? 

------------------------------
Ivette Rios
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-06-2021 09:43:26 PM
From: Patrice Porter
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hey Rachel we grew sunflower seeds with the Pre-K class - they loved it and you have greens up in about 6 days. I used peat moss to plant them in but coco fiber would work too. I liked it because it was easy for the kids to participate putting handfuls of seeds on a layer of peat then I straightened them out a bit and we put a covering of peat on top. I put the tray with dome covering on top of the fridge (or any warm spot) then we had a little light to put them under but they are fine by a window too. The kids loved cutting them and just eating them straight from the tray then we had some with cream cheese on bagels.

------------------------------
Patrice Porter
The Gardening Grandma
Big River SK

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Hello! We grew a variety of microgreens in traditional seed trays with soil with students from pre-k to 5th grade and they loved it! We found we did not need additional light, although the classrooms that used additional light did have slightly better results. What you said is so true! Kids get so tired of not growing anything during the winter months and this is an easy way of doing this. 
Some students enjoyed these delicious greens by themselves and others made savory crepes with microgreens and cream cheese! 
Good luck!

------------------------------
Lauren Rust
Children 1st
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Microgreens need watering everyday, how did you water/keep them alive over the weekends?

------------------------------
Ivette Rios
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2022 02:27:27 PM
From: Lauren Rust
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hello! We grew a variety of microgreens in traditional seed trays with soil with students from pre-k to 5th grade and they loved it! We found we did not need additional light, although the classrooms that used additional light did have slightly better results. What you said is so true! Kids get so tired of not growing anything during the winter months and this is an easy way of doing this. 
Some students enjoyed these delicious greens by themselves and others made savory crepes with microgreens and cream cheese! 
Good luck!

------------------------------
Lauren Rust
Children 1st

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

I am curious to hear from those that are growing for their kitchen or grew enough to make salads. Can you give me an amount/area that was planted that equated to 1 or 10 or 100 students being able to enjoy the harvest. We grew some this fall, but it didn't amount to very much.

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Patricia Nicoll
Saint Mary's Hall
SAN ANTONIO TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Hi.  I have an aquaponics Water Garden.  It is a a self supporting ecosystem.  I purchased a beta fish for the aquarium.  The water garden itself came from amazon.  Works really well.  We had microgreens within 1 week.  Seriously!  I simply feed the beta fish 1-2 a day.  Everything except the fish is included in the water garden!

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Annetta Book
Vidalia High School
Vidalia LA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Have you tried growing sweet potato vines from regular sweet potato (use toothpicks to keep most of the potato out of water)? Or growing other plants from kitchen scraps? See https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/veggetables-herbs-regrow-kitchen-scraps/

Fun and free!


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Carol Kinsley
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------

Hey there! I haven't tried growing microgreens indoors with kids myself, but I've heard it's a fantastic activity from friends who have. They've mentioned that it's not only fun but also educational for the kids. Watching the microgreens sprout and grow quickly can be really exciting for them. As for age, it seems like a versatile activity that can be enjoyed by children of various ages, maybe starting around preschool age and up. Using soil adds to the experience and helps teach kids about the importance of soil in plant growth. Overall, it sounds like a perfect winter activity-low-cost, engaging, and a great way to bring some greenery indoors. If you decide to give it a try, I hope you and the kids have a blast! For more insights and tips on gardening and lawn care, be sure to check out my blog about 'Gardenation.' Happy gardening!"

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shahmeer shahid
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2021 09:20:36 PM
From: Rachel Heckscher
Subject: MIcrogreens!

Hi all, Has anyone tried simple growing of microgreens, indoors, with kids?
I liked the video produced by KidsGardening Growing Together; Gardening with Kids - Microgreens but I need some real world anecdotes. Was it fun? Did it work? What age kids? Did you use soil?
In wintertime, it would be so fun to have something inexpensive, fun, and GREEN to do indoors with kids. Thanks ahead of time for any tips or stories you can provide! --Rachel

------------------------------
Rachel Heckscher
Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
------------------------------