Fresh food for the impatient

Garden Organic's Anton Rosenfeld shares his tips for quick and easy windowsill greens

- Anton Rosenfeld

Impatience is not the ideal temperament for growing your own food- but if you fear failure and I are time-poor, the quick and failsafe nature of sprouting seeds and microgreens might just be the hook to get you started.

GROW SPROUTING SEEDS

Sprouting seeds, or sprouts, are one of the quickest ways to produce food because all you have to do is germinate the seed and allow it to produce shoots. Better still, when seeds start to sprout, many of the nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids become more readily available for us to digest. This is particularly true of legumes, such as alfalfa and beans, that contain a number of indigestible compounds in their unsprouted form.

The simplest way to grow sprouts is to use a glass jar:

1. Pour a thin layer of seeds over the bottom of the jar. Don't be tempted to add more than this as the seeds increase in size by an order of magnitude when sprouted.

2. Soak the seeds overnight in the jar.

3. Fasten a small sheet of muslin over the end, held in place by an elastic band and drain the water.

4. Rinse the seeds several times by filling the jar with water and pouring it out through the muslin. Then place the jar with the far end tipped up slightly to allow any excess water to drain through the muslin.

5. Rinse thoroughly twice a day.