The powerful micro-what?: Microgreens!

 ...see? I did come back again sooner! :)

Today's post is about a sort-of new type of harvest, the microgreen! I've only recently learned what they are, and love the idea!

Microgreens...
...are basically just entire plants harvested as seedlings, mostly used to add flavor to dishes and salads, garnish plates and soups, and mix in with spreads and dips!

Microgreens are comprised of either a single variety of vegetable planted densely together, or a mixture of varieties, such as the microgreen packet I bought that consisted of red beets, radishes, cabbage, kohlrabi, pak choi, and swiss chard. Depending which greens you use, the mix can be quite spicy and full of flavor, and differentiate themselves from sprouts in that they are harvested larger and need light and soil to grow rather than just water.

Microgreens are great for indoor or balcony gardeners since they take up little space!! They are also ready to eat within 1-2 weeks, allowing for multiple harvests in your average outdoor season. They are harvested after the first leaves have developed, so at about 1-3 inch length - just cut them all off, wash, and add to your salad or sandwich!

my microgreens (before the construction dust got to them)!

Microgreens are also very nutritious! They can contain up to 40 times higher levels of important nutrients than the mature vegetables, says realfarmacy. Think stem cells - these buggers are concentrated!

NPR also agrees that microgreens are way more packed with nutrients than the full versions and are not only safer than sprouts but offer a burst of taste to top off your dishes. I have used my microgreens in place of sprouts several times and love it!


If you can't find a package of microgreens at your local garden center (mine didn't even know what microgreens were!), don't despair - you can just make it yourself! Toss equal amounts of various vegetable seeds over your pot or plot of soil and cover with a light dusting of dirt. Don't be afraid to fill the surface more than you would with normal seedlings since you won't have to thin them out - they'll be harvested small. Or just try a single variety and enjoy the flavors individually first.

Have fun experimenting and eat up those phytonutrients!

top view of a patch of my microgreens - planted too thinly though, it was my first time!

Summer break (literally) and garden update!

Dear Readers,

If you are reading this then you have survived my summer hiatus-type-break! Welcome back and enjoy the regular upcoming posts again!

Here's an update on what's been going on and what the break was about:

First off, pretty much on the day that I was going to post here again, I got into a bicycle accident here downtown (heavy bike traffic) and ended up falling full-speed onto my arm, breaking my elbow and wrist!! Yes, my "summer break" was meant literally! That required surgery on my elbow and a hospital stay of 11 days, after which I was not really in a position to be typing and editing pictures and the like here between my physical therapy and doctor visits and social calendar. A big thanks to all my friends who came to visit me and meet up!

Things are looking up though, my arm brace is off now after 6 weeks and I can type with 2 hands again as well as use a mouse - hurray! My latest x-rays show that the bones are healed, so I just need to work on gaining the strength back in my arm (biceps and lower arm muscles are shot!) as well as more range-of-motion such as twisting my wrist and bending my elbow shut, mostly. I will hopefully be able to go back to work soon and continue life as usual - albeit riding my bike a bit more slowly.

In addition, a few weeks after the accident I was still able to fly to the States for my yearly visit! It was unfortunately postponed a bit and shortened this year because of my arm, but I was still very happy to see family and friends again as I always am! It's great to catch up and see everyone in person. On the visit I did a bit of traveling, so I was barely at the computer at all - had to make the most of the time I had!

Garden Update:

My balcony garden has not had the best circumstances under which to thrive this summer - upon my release from the hospital, I came home to find my building completely surrounded by scaffolding! It turns out they are (still!!!) doing renovations on the roof to make it more energy efficient, which means not only lots of loud banging and drilling right above me since I have an upper unit, but also dust/scraps falling on my plants and a lack of sun since the scaffolding is almost completely covering my balcony! Dislike!!

Here's photo proof of what I'm dealing with:

lots of dirt out there

poor, sad microgreens! at least I harvested some before I left!

lack of sun and shrapnel killed these herbs

...and my flowers...gross!

yes, those are supposed to be radishes, but got leggy and not bulbous at all!

these survived the best, just a bit dusty.

Some vegetables are a total loss, but it looks like some will pull through, like my beans, tomatoes and chili peppers, hurray for that! Some herbs have survived so far as well, and the onions have shown how tough they are as well.

I anticipate that the construction should be done fairly soon...I hope! I think I saw them putting on rain gutters this morning - it is VERY weird to wake up and see legs outside of your 4th floor apartment!

Stay posted for more!

Mystery Vegetable: Rutabaga

Ok, ok, this isn't really all that strange or mysterious, but it is a vegetable that I have admittedly never actually purchased before, and never really at least been aware of eating, so here it goes!

rutabaga

Rutabaga
This was another one I got recently, but more during the winter, in my CSA delivery, and I just loved how it looked! The roots on the bottom make it look like an alien! :-)

The rutabaga, or Brassica napobrassica as it is known in the scientific world, is called a "Steckrübe" over here, which hints at a root being stuck into the ground. It is closely related to the turnip, and is even sometimes called a Swedish Turnip, but the ones I get are much bigger (and more monster-like... :)

It's commonly cooked, pureed, and served like mashed potatoes would be, or is used as a base in stews, soups and casseroles, but I've also eaten it raw, peeled and cut into pieces, with a low-fat cream cheese (with horseradish mixed in) for a side for lunch, and prefer it so. They are much more flavorful than I expected!

And they have a bunch of nutrients - the big shocker being a lot of Vitamin C - only 100g (or 3.5oz) has almost 50% of your RDA! Wow, who would have thought?

Plus I learned that Rutabaga has some historical significance here in Germany - it helped keep the Germans from starving during WWI and II - they would make a soup of just cut-up rutabaga and water to sustain themselves during food shortages. This also means that Germans aren't really a huge fan of rutabagas....

But I certainly enjoy them! :)

Pictures / Overview of this year's balcony vegetable garden so far!

This year's balcony vegetable garden so far!

So! I'll get right to it, the moment you've been waiting for - I present: this year's vegetable garden, balcony-style!

Here you can also see the approx. size of my balcony. I wanted to leave room for a table and 2 chairs, as well as for not only the plants to grow, but spots for more pots, such as some chili plants that are not ready to go outside yet. I got a few plants transplanted this week (zucchinis, tomatoes, chilis), and seeds out last week, and as you can see, some have already come up! Exciting! It's been pretty crappy weather lately, pretty rainy and not all that warm, but I'm hoping things will shape up soon and I will see some germination in my peas and pole beans.

Herbs (from left to right): lemon balm, cilantro, mint; chives, rosemary, parsley; oregano, sage, thyme. The far left pot are plants I bought and transplanted, as well as was the rosemary, since mine didn't survive the winter after all.

My lettuce was a paper band of seed, with 3 varieties of leaf lettuce: Batavia Lettuce "Teide", Leaf Lettuce "Grand Rapids", and Leaf Lettuce "Lollo Bionda". Three kinds in one planter, it's great! And the bands make it really easy to plant.

I also now prefer red onions (here "piroska") because of their milder flavor, which are also great picked and eaten as green onions!

I decided to try something else new this year, micro greens, here the "mild mix - Brassica and Amaranthus", from Botanical Interests! I'd seen a package at the seed store last summer, and it just seemed appetizing. It's basically a mix of various seeds (such as red beets, cabbage, kohlrabi, pak choi, and swiss chard) that are meant to be planted together and harvested once they reach about 1-3 inches. I'm hoping they all grow at the same rate! I may also let them get a little bigger. They'll be great to top salads, in sandwiches, or on crackers with cream cheese!

The only other non-standard items are my pole beans - they are purple ones, which also bear pretty purple flowers. They are pretty much the same consistency when ripe of a normal green bush bean, but are deep purple in color. Here, "blauwschediger spek".

Here's how my window sill inside (right next to my balcony) is looking so far:

Here you can see a few chili plants (jalapeno, purple jalapeno) in the front, a basil plant, an aloe vera plant (which won't go outside), and my greenhouse, which is home to an extra tomato plant and my "white lightning" habanero chilis, which seem to be growing very slowly. I suspect they need a lot of heat, so I'm keeping them in the greenhouse as long as possible. I'm also glad I decided to keep a jalapeno and purple jalapeno plant indoors - the ones outside are looking a bit beaten up, probably due to wind and cold temps. Plus, something ate off a few leaves on both plants! I don't think it was my cat, so bird? Squirrel??

Things are definitely shaping up in my edible balcony paradise, now let's all hope for some warmth!

Truck Farm!

Oh my, it's been faaaar too long since I posted again, so here's a little something for you to do:

Watch Truck Farm! :-)

"Truck Farm"

It's a documentary I found on Hulu (among other places) about some silly guys who converted the bed of their pick-up truck into a mobile vegetable farm (and even sold subscriptions to it!).

A real container gardener's delight! Urban gardening at it's best - it seemed to work well until someone stole something out of it...

The documentary not only tells (or sings) the tale of the truck farm, but also includes interviews with other urban gardeners, where you can learn about unique techniques for indoor, urban, or small-space gardening (what this blog is about!). 

Apparently many other truck farms have sprouted up across the country, some as a result of this project, such as this one in Chicago and this one in Texas - talk about inspiring others!

Watch it on Hulu, or check out this trailer:

Trees are abloom and buds are opening!

The trees are finally sprouting leaves and blooming - I thought the day would never come! Here a few pics of what's blooming (from last week, sorry, didn't get a chance to post them then):

Forsythia

not the best pic, but was *covered* in white blooms!

possibly flowering crab apple...

...flowering crab apple?

no, not caterpillars! These dropped off of a tree!

Three specimens with buds in the middle of opening up right outside my apartment window this week:

weeping willow

A falcon dragging its prey in the tree only yards away!

Who ever said that there is no wildlife in the city?! I live here very central and guess what I saw from my balcony the other day?

A falcon!!

Look at him!

If this were in the States I'd say it was a hawk, but falcons are more common here and it appears (based on pictures I found on the net) to be a European Falcon.

Birds do like to hang out in the willow tree between my building and the one next to it...I'll often see magpies or pigeons sitting in its branches, resting. But a falcon?! Right here in town? Wow!

There appeared to be a bit of bird drama happening, too. Upon looking more closely at the falcon, I noticed it had something in its talon - a dead (gray) bird!! It had caught something and was dragging it with him in the tree!

falcon with its prey (yes, that's some blood you see!)

The magpies seemed very upset by the whole scenario, squawking away noisily at the falcon. At first I thought the falcon had caught a magpie baby, but its kill looked like it was only gray in color. It was probably just a pigeon and the magpie wanted some!

the falcon keeping an eye on its catch

Finally, after picking at it some, the falcon abandoned its prey and flew to another branch, leaving the kill available for all. The magpie saw his chance and went for it!

the scenario

Of course after the magpie pecked a few times at the prey, it fell to the ground, where it was apparently suddenly not interesting any more - drama over!

Talk about nature up close and personal! How cool is that?!

Gotta love my slice of heaven here!