Right now, Temecula is under a freeze advisory, which is pretty unusual for Southern California. I’m mildly concerned about my fall garden, because there’s a few crops that are sensitive to frost. But what I won’t be worried about are the sprouts that I’m growing indoors.

For the impatient gardener, growing sprouts can give you a quicker payoff than just about anything else. They’re ready to eat within 5 and 10 days! But that’s not all that good about growing sprouts–they’re packed with vitamins and minerals that are great energy boosts and work to detoxify the body. People always comment on how youthful and glowing my skin is. Honestly, a big portion of it is due to my regular consumption of organic greens.

I planted these seeds just three days ago.

It’s a combination of beet, Swiss chard, radish, mustard, cress, cabbage and kohlrabi sprouts. I’m growing them in a recycled black plastic plant flat I got from Home Depot. I just poked a few holes at the bottom to drain the water and sprinkled the seeds on top of my potting mix and gently pressed them into it. I finished with a light sprinkling of soil on top, just enough to cover the seeds. I saturated the soil and I could see some seeds germinating within 36 hours!

I’ve set my flat under grow lights for 8 to 12 hours, and my sprouts will probably be ready to eat within the next day or two. I plan on using them on top of egg salad, in a smoothie, and put some on the kids’ sandwiches. You can even use them in your juicing.

You can easily grow sprouts indoors with a grow light or near a sunny window. It really doesn’t take much. Here’s a link to the grow light I use. The seed packet I planted is from Botanical Interest, micro greens, savory mix.