So this is what I started out with. A tupperware tray with some soil from my garden in it. In the back are little toilet paper cardboard tubes that I cut up and packed with soil and a tiny seed. In the front part I sprinkled an entire packet of spring mix lettuce. I watered the entire tray until it was fairly soaked. I tried not to overwater and I think I was fairly successful. In the back there are some drying basil leaves and in the front is a small cardboard tray filled with a thin layer of soil that I sprinkled some wheatgrass seeds (wheat berries) onto.
Looks pretty but it didn't work out very well. I decided to dump this into a bigger glass casserole dish and put more wheatgrass seeds into it. I also soaked my wheatgrass seed in a glass of water overnight.
The new wheatgrass tray is over to the right. In the middle is a standard Jiffy Germination tray that I bought at a garden store. It has 36 Jiffy Peat Pots which expand when you fill the tray with water. I've read that you should just fill the tray up, let sit for about 5 minutes, then pour off the excess water. Give each pellet a light squeeze and if a small amount of water comes out, they are ready. I loaded each tray with a variety of seeds ranging from Arugula, Collards, Mustard Greens, Spinach, and Lettuce. Then I covered it.
A few days into it and microgreens were popping up in the tupperware tray.
The wheatgrass was doing exceptionally well too.
There are little sprouts in my jiffy pots, too.
Unfortunately I didn't give the Jiffy pot seedlings or the tupperware tray seedlings enough light. They became tall, stringy, and weak, and after about 5 days, were falling over and dying. I pulled them all up. Instead of reusing the jiffy pots I opened each by cutting off the netting (or just pulling it off with my fingers) and took all the peat and mixed it in with some potting soil.
The wheatgrass however was a different story.
I was amazed at how fast and well it grew. Nearly every berry planted turned into an 8 inch high blade of grass. I lightly watered the dish they were in every 2 days or so, when the top became very dry, but they really didn't need much else. I put them under a desk lamp I have with a CFL bulb in it but I don't even think they needed that.
I ended up making a wheatgrass smoothie with 2 bananas, about 1/2 cup of orange juice, and all the wheatgrass from that tray. The bananas were a bit much, I probably only should have used 1, I couldn't even taste the wheatgrass, which I hear tastes awful to some people (they probably drink it straight, however). I did feel pretty good the rest of the morning after drinking that shake, wheatgrass may not be a miracle cure for everything as some suggest but it is loaded with nutrients, roughly the same amount as in a serving of broccoli or spinach. Amazing that it only grows in 8 days for the cost of a $1 packet of seeds.
Growing it gave me an interesting experience in waiting for food. Ultimately I am going to be waiting weeks or even months for things I plant to produce something edible. In this culture we can pretty much get food on demand, and that has desensitized a lot of people to what is really required to put food on their plates.
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