I recommend keeping the tray in the kitchen, or somewhere you’ll see it often. The family sized trays have an inner and outer tray, the inner tray holds the soil and has holes for drainage. Find a suitably sized dinner plate to use as a drip tray for regular sized trays.

They will require regular watering and would benefit from frequent small watering rather than one big soak.

Try to avoid using a fine mist, instead pour the water in to ensure it penetrates the micro-canopy and reaches the soil.

If you have a family tray, you can lift up the inner tray, pour in approximately 15mm of water, and place the inner tray back in. Let it soak for 2-3mins then remove the inner tray, place it perpendicular to the outer tray to let the excess water drain off. After 20mins, empty the water from the outer tray and place the inner tray back inside.

They are in a small amount of soil so they don’t require a lot of water. You want to keep the soil damp but not saturated.

Keep an eye on the colour of the soil. If it is a glossy black it has enough water. If it is more of a dull black, then it needs water.

If you find the microgreens drooped over one day, simple give them a good dose of water and keep the tray somewhere cool overnight and they should bounce right back to life.

Harvest your microgreens using a pair of scissors if you’re planning on using them straight away. If you’re going to be cutting and storing them in the fridge, use a sharp knife. This helps to prevent the crushing of the stalk which causes them to go bad.

You can keep the whole tray in the fridge if you want to slow down the growth to make the tray last a little longer.

When you buy cut greens from the farmers markets, they are cut fresh right in front of you and put into a paper bag.

The reduction of single use plastics is an important consideration for me. Paper bags are easily broken down and can be composted, unlike plastic which never really breaks down, it only breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces.

The paper bag isn’t great for keeping the microgreens so I have prepared these instructions for you to ensure you get the most life out of your microgreens as possible.

Firstly, when you get home, give your microgreens a cold bath in freshwater. This helps them to soak up any moisture they may have lost on their way home, and the cold helps to snap in the freshness.

Spin the microgreens dry using a salad spinner or wrap them in a tea towel and spin it. Be careful not to crush the microgreens.

Once you’re removed the excess water, store them in a container with dry paper towel on the bottom, in the fridge.

They last on average about 6-7 days.

Removal of excess water is an important step. Excess water will cause the microgreens to go mouldy quickly.