Besides the occasional watering, maintenance of your new indoor garden is going to be pretty easy. We designed it so it would be. While it’s getting started it does require a little more TLC however (don’t we all?) and this blog will walk you through what’s required.
Germination
Germination rates for the seeds in your indoor garden kit should be at least 90% under normal conditions, which means that of the recommended 5-10 seeds you add initially, chances are you’ll have 5-9 sprout. If you added more than 5-10 seeds initially, then you’ve probably got a nice little micro-greens garden going!
If you’re having trouble getting your seeds to sprout, check out this blog for some tips.
Culling
Did we tell you that the World’s Smallest Garden is, well, kinda small – so far as gardens go…? That means we need to be careful that it doesn’t get too crowded. Some manual intervention is required in terms of ‘crowd control’.
Remove all of the smaller seedlings until only the 2-3 largest remain
This will leave more room (and less competition) for the seedlings that remain. Enjoy your first harvest (of micro greens)! Put them on a salad, avocado toast, or pasta.
Lighting
After watering (which we’ve already solved!) the next biggest problem for indoor gardeners is light. Getting enough of it, particularly during winter, can be a challenge. Check out our blog on window sill lighting for tips on where to place your garden, and if you need it we can also show you how to set up a grow light for year-round indoor growing for as little as $30-40.
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The picture of your grow light is over only one of the bottles; if the plants need 10-12 hrs of light a day, is that a problem for the others plants?
Hi Rosalie, yes we do that to keep the image separately, but you can absolutely do more than one per light. In fact we’re doing some experiments in the office at the moment where we have 3 bottles per light – kind of arranged in a triangle shape (hope that makes sense). Feel free to send us a photo via our SMS support if you’d like a bit more guidance. Just text ‘UrbanLeaf’ to 555888 so we can connect. Chat soon! Nate
I’m loving this process! I may have made a mistake though. I may have culled them too soon and now there’s only 1-2 sprouts per plant. They’re growing nicely, but it looks like only one will make it. Will 1 plant grow fully? It’s been almost 3 weeks and I want to make sure I’m on the right track.
Thanks!
Hi Todd, great to hear! Yes as long as you have 1 plant remaining that’ll be fine. At least we know it wont have much competition! Btw we recently created some videos that show what your plants should look like at various stages of growth. You can find them here => https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwS9FX_3N_wK03oo55KbfLw?view_as=subscriber