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Post by tbird on Apr 14, 2015 14:35:19 GMT -5
black seeded simpson has been a little problematic for me in chicago. We don't often get a real long stretch of spring weather without a heatwave here and then that sends it bolting. so - like i have them all in now, and I should start getting some very soon 2-3 weeks, but at any moment we could get heat, a scorching near to 90 or above for 3 days in a row, and then drop back to the 60's for another few weeks....but - that sends the lettuce into bitter/bolting phase.
But - I sure do like it a lot while it's 'good'.
Not sure if I am early than usual, but the 10 day forecast is not hitting above 65 highs or lower than 40 lows....this could be my spring for great lettuce....
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Post by OregonRed on Apr 15, 2015 8:29:08 GMT -5
hmmm, never heard about that with buckwheat.
no, we're not as cloudy as seattle - about 4 hours south of there or is it 6?
this is funny how we have our very own thread, no one else is chooseing to post or is interested I guess...
Did you see my posts from the 13th?
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Post by tbird on Apr 15, 2015 10:24:39 GMT -5
Did you see my posts from the 13th? lol, which one I think there are 3? I guess not everyone is into the sprouting, microgreen, raw thing. But maybe we can attract some googlers eventually? We switched to flax in the morning smoothies, I was soaking the seeds, flax and chia, but not draining and rinsing - so I'm think the benefits of the soak may not have been complete. Today we are starting with overnight soaked, and thoroughly rinsed, flax. I have all-day work meeting the rest of the week, and not going back to trying chia till those are over. I had some gastrointestinal issues, which seem to be chia related. I'll see if the overnight soak and thorough rinsing take care of that. I can see the difference in my complexion. Been doing 16 oz smoothie with the seeds for breakfast, huge salad with avocado and sunflower and other sprouts. Lots of them, like maybe up to 2 cups of sprouts. Then the standard cooked dinner. Rice with a stirfry, curry, or gumbo, or asian noodles with the same. Usually tofu and assorted veg. The black seeded simpson is doing well so far, but still only sprout leaves.....waiting .... waiting....
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Post by tbird on Apr 15, 2015 11:16:41 GMT -5
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Post by tbird on Apr 15, 2015 11:18:54 GMT -5
This is the 12" saucer set up for baby lettuce leaves. I tilt it so they don't get gangly reaching for the window, and I try to rotate them Below is the wheat grass in the 8" saucer....I don't think this is enough soil, but will see how it goes.
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Post by tbird on Apr 15, 2015 11:21:08 GMT -5
Here's a salad with my sprouts!
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Post by tbird on Apr 15, 2015 11:34:37 GMT -5
edit!
the radish in the photo is store bought, the shorter ones are sunflowers and mine. There is soaked pumpkin seeds, but they don't seem to sprout, but the flavor is improved.
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Post by OregonRed on Apr 15, 2015 11:50:09 GMT -5
that salad looks so good - I eat avocado and tomatos daily in the summer
soil qty looks just fine on the wheat grass
yah, that lettuce, it seems to take a long time, then it takes off. Like the proverbial watched pot I guess. I just purchased some sluggo, so I can plant a bunch out at the CG soon here... yes, I have noticed certain nuts and seeds have to purchased as for sprouting... some they treat, I hear, so...barley is one of them... I don't remember about pumpkin.
I've not been into salad season yet here + I have carried on as lazy, and go to the deli at the HFS for salad and wraps on a whim...it's walking distance...
back when I had a 9 - 5 job, I would make a salad that would last a week - just add fresh stuff to the top I love adding fresh snipped herbs to my salad too, as a flavoring, so then lemon juice oil makes a nice dressing with some crumbled blue or feta
I like to make my own herbed ranch too
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Post by tbird on Apr 18, 2015 15:48:42 GMT -5
Sprouts are doing great. Today's salad included alfalfa, fenugreek, sunflower and green lentil. Each variety I have maybe 1-2 days worth left so time to start soaking again!!!!
Lettuces, still just sprouts.....the inside ones I note are growing quicker than the outdoors. Same soil. Maybe temp modulations, or some transplant pause for the outdoors ones. the one doing the best is the skyphos, it has 1-2 true leaves on it that are maybe half the size of a penny. This is 2 full weeks, and not a lot to show, hopefully week 3 will start to yield something salad ready, and by week 4, by every metric, I should have lettuce galore. But - so far, it has been slow going. But grateful the crop is largely intact! the indoor saucers are outside right now as it is sunny and in the 50's.....
Microgreens - nothing! The radish are sprouted, but I think I will do them as sprouts next time, not microgreens and just do the colander, and bowls and water routine like the other sprouts.....nary a sprout on the chickweed.
wheatgrass doing pretty well. Will start with the harvesting tomorrow. I'll take the thickest/highest growing of the 3 8" saucers, and trim it to within 1/4 to 1/2 inch. But - time to start another batch of those too! I figure I can do 1-3 harvests per saucer and then reboot. I think I would like to do them in the 12" saucers, and I think that the 12 inchers are likely not going to do well with the lettuces, but well see, I'll transfer those over if not, but even if they do do well, I might not need the saucers if the outdoor lettuce goes well.
Need more saucers! need more everything. It is hard to keep track of it all, but so worth it, I think.
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Post by tbird on Apr 30, 2015 9:45:31 GMT -5
I lost track of my sprouts, down to about nothing. Over-soaked the new batch - forgot to drain them last night, hope they will be ok. Still no lettuce!!!! And - i don't think that there will be any this weekend, it has been very slow going. So even for baby cut and come again lettuce leaves, it may take more than 4 weeks. I have not gone back to micro greens, trying to keep up with sprouts (which do have greens, ) and the lettuces.....
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Post by tbird on May 1, 2015 8:33:12 GMT -5
My 24-hour soaked sprouts did fine! They are all asprouting! I may alter my protocol for a longer soak!
This was an experiment as a mix. I was previously sprouting them separately, and decided that they could go together. And do a smaller quantity of each more frequently. The mix is french green lentils, sunflowers and fenugreek. I do one part lentils, one part fenugreek and 2 parts sunflowers.
After the 24 hour soak, I could see the sunflowers start to splay the cotyledons, so sprout-like feelings were emerging. I drained them as soon as I got up, and then put a little sprinkle on the luncheon salad. I prefer them a bit more sprouted than that, but they were not hard and fine in the salad. I started a second batch of mixed since the first was rather small, but I think I did too much on that one,
If I say that it takes 5 days for the sprouts to be salad-ready, I want to have 5 small mixed bathes and then use the oldest each day. But since I did too much, I'm going to wait a few days before doing anymore.
I will initially try measures of a Tspoon - so 1-1-2 tablespoons and see if that is sufficient for the days salads. I think the ann wigmore recommendation was something like 4 cups of sprouts a day?
I will need to work my way up!
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Post by tbird on May 1, 2015 8:37:57 GMT -5
also - started another batch of alfalfa. Again - too much! They are so delicate, they dry out very easily, then there are some dead ones in there and they ruin the batch. Will wiat a few days and then try maybe 1 Tspoon alfalfa each day too for salads and sandwich use.
I prefer colandar sprouting, but I think I will drape wet cheese cloth over the colanders while I am away from the house to prevent drying out too quickly. when home, I just rinse them whenever I go to the sink for any reason. The big sprouts dry out too, but since they are larger, it isn't fatal like for the tiny alfalfas.
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Post by OregonRed on May 13, 2015 18:04:35 GMT -5
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Post by tbird on May 15, 2015 8:08:34 GMT -5
oh - that is really nice! I may invest when they get back into stock!
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Post by tbird on May 28, 2015 16:56:23 GMT -5
the large saucers didn't work out for the lettuce. THANK GOODNESS, I transplanted a bunch into the garden...going to transplant the rest of them in there too. They just stayed tiny, and not a lot of leaves either. the transplanted ones were 10x the size, and within a few weeks. The large saucers are being promoted to wheat grass production. The medium ones did fine for the wheat grass, but the larger will be better.... medium ones will go to the micro green production, that.....I haven't started yet. I have been dutifully keeping us in sprouts, we haven't gone more than 3 days without some sprouts for eating. and I've done a few fresh salad dressings too. last night I made sunnus.....a hummus homage using sprouted sunflower seeds. Put that into nori wraps with cooked quinoa, shaved carrot, fresh lettuce and avocado. Pretty tasty, filling, but light too. super wanted radish sprouts to go with it!
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