Grow Your Own Magazine

Last year I was able to pick rocket, land cress and lambs lettuce right through winter with lettuce to follow early in spring.

This year the frost and snow has ruined them all so I was thinking of sprouting some seeds for winter salads and stir-fries.

We used to sprout Alfalfa seeds with some sucess years ago but now I see rocket, red cabbage, radish etc etc available for sprouting.

Does anyone sprout/grow these?

How about lentils, peas, aduki beans etc which can be bought much cheaper as food than 'sprouting seeds' anyone had success with these?

I buy mung beans from the supermarket and sprout them for 5 days, keeping warm and washing twice a day. They are the things you buy as bean sprouts at 10 times the price pre-sprouted.

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Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?

I am growing some sprouting seeds at the moment. I have never done this before, can anyone tell me do you eat the seeds and the white shoot or do you have to detach them?

Stella you eat every bit, what seeds are you sprouting?

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Bren

Supporter of the Binley Knows Best Club

Not sure it just says sprouting seeds on the packet??

So long as you follow the rinsing instructions they're bound to come out fine, you can't really go wrong.

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Bren

Supporter of the Binley Knows Best Club

I'm a serious sprouter, have been for years - I always have four sprouting tubs and a jar on the go at any given time

This is my current batch, three of which are very nearly ready to munch

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aka
Suzie

Piskie, you've just reminded me that I need to get one of those sprouter boxes. (I was meant to get one free from one of the gardening mags/catalogues last year, but it never arrived).

I've used the ordinary jam jar method in the past, but now I want a posh one

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~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do

The 'posh' jar is excellent, you rinse and stand it on the sticky out bit, drains well that way - I'm sure you can obtain the same with jam jars, but have never tried. I like posh stuff

The boxes are very good too, due to the stacking, you can have a good few on the go not taking up too much space

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aka
Suzie

Quite impressed P in B!
Do tell us what you sprout and what the results are like. Have you tried sunflowers? are the hulls a pain? what about peas, fenugreek etc etc?

I've got some blonde lentils just starting and dying to try other things

The ones currently on the go that you can see in the picture are; mung beans in jar, onions, lentils, alfalfa, red clover in tubs.

There isn't much I don't sprout to be honest and I use them either in stir-fry, sandwiches, salad or just for munching on whilst passing

As for the hauls, they get munched up alongside the rest.

What do they taste like? Well, you know the long white bean sprouts in bags in the supermarkets? Nothing like those - thankfully Think more rustic, cheaper, much much more nutritious and always available

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aka
Suzie

The alfalfa (my favourites) taste like young peas. Really lovely in a sandwich. I sprout seeds when I can't get to the lottie because of the weather!

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Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.

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I have Alfalfa growning in one of those sprouter trays with a Sandwich mix in another tray.
The Alfalfa is great, but it is taking 6 days at the moment to sprout. The Sandwich mix is not that good, some have sprouted but others have not.

I put it down to where you buy the seeds from in the first place..

Just a word of warning... although seeds are easy to sprout there is a risk of mould.

Make sure you rinse the seeds thoroughly twice a day (preferably in water that is not too cold) and then drain ALL the water off. If the seeds are left wet then they will go mouldy... just like seedlings in soil that succumb to damping off after too much watering.

The jar also needs to let air to circulate around the seeds.

I used to use a large jar with muslin on the top with reasonable success but when I tried this again last year I kept getting mould. After buying one of those square sprouters that PB uses I have had no problems.

Well worth the trouble to sprout seeds!!

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The proof of the growing is in the eating.

Got one of those seed sprouter boxes with a packet of snow peas and adzuki beans as a Christmas present. Started them off today; never tried sprouting before so will be interested in seeing the results.

I've got some puy lentils that are just about ready to eat.

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Bren

Supporter of the Binley Knows Best Club

and of course be careful not to sprout seeds that may have been treated with a chemical (fungicide etc). Buy eating seeds, not sowing seeds if you're not sure

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~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do

I just bought some at Morrisons yesterday Bren. Got them for use as lentils. How long do they take to sprout and be ready?

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Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?

I love sprouted chick peas, really nutty flavour. Aduki beans are great too. Have had a go at sprouting most things over the years and I love them. I'm lucky enough to live i a part of leeds that has many asian supermarkets. The bags of dried pulses etc along with spices are much cheaper there. I also occassionally add sprouted pulses and seeds to bread for a differenttexture. Lovely.... Kids enjoy sprouting them too

Never had a problem with mould, but about a year ago I lost a batch of Alfalfa when a jell formed round each seed?? Only happened once and never found out why it did this. Not one seed germinated.

I started them Saturday so 3 days it depends sometimes they take longer, I love Puy lentils made a Cottage type pie with them the other week.

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Bren

Supporter of the Binley Knows Best Club

I have bought my first sprouter and just harvested my first lot of sprouts and am very pleased with the results.

I have heard that you have to be careful which sprouting seeds to buy to use - these were about £2 for enough for about 4 goes. Where is the best place to buy this sort of seed from? Also I read you grow garlic and other things I didn't know were possible. Which ones can I use?

I am sure this can be a very cheap way of producing nice fresh sprouts but how?

Thanks
Lesley

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Slowly takes it!

Lesley - I tend to buy most of mine as dedicated 'sprouting seeds' from any garden centre I happen to be in, I believe that to be the best way to ensure (as is pointed out above) that you don't attempt to sprout chemically-treated sprouts.

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aka
Suzie

I use Thompson & Morgan for my sprouting seeds, they have been selling them for at least 20 years.

Those are the ones that I mostly buy WTD - most GCs seem to sell them, never had a crop failure yet, nor have I been rained off, droughted off, or hit by pest/blight

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aka
Suzie

I wouldn't have thought they would be viable after 20 years Wrex. Sorry.

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Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?

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aka
Suzie

The funny thing is that seeds used to be sold on a sale or return basis. The seeds returned at the end of the year was mixed with fresh seeds. I think it was about 15% ratio of old seeds to new. Don't know if they still do this?

So in theory you may find a few 20 year old ones in the pack. Very rare too get 100% germination unless you get commercial seeds that are guaranteed 100% fresh.

I buy my lentils and a few other bits from Julian Graves, if you look on their website it lists nearest stores.

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Bren

Supporter of the Binley Knows Best Club

Yaaay = first lot of lentils will be ready for tonight! Just tried a few and they taste very much like raw peas but not quite so sweet.

I've seen all the sprouting seeds in garden centres but they seem a bit expensive ( although more for your money than seeds for sowing) I'm going to try various pulses bought as foodstuff

Just don't sprout the larger beans, because of lectin poisoning.


"A well-known lectin, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), is found in kidney beans and other legumes in the kidney bean family (black beans, pinto beans, etc).
PHA ... is highly toxic. When eaten in significant quantities, PHA causes gastrointestinal upset identical to food poisoning." http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuf...t-lectins.aspx

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~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do

Anyboy recommend a sprouter or "posh boxes"? Like the idea of being able to stack them so you have continuous supply for minimum space...

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aka Neil

The best way at the moment is to log onto the Thompson & Morgan web site and request a free catalogue. When it arrives it should include a free £5 voucher, so you only pay 99p for one.



Request a Thompson & Morgan Printed Catalogue

What a top tip Wrex! Thank you very much

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aka Neil

I've got one of the T&M type & have just started to 'sprout' a few days ago, the little seeds have just started to show, I'm trying onion & mustard seed.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.