Micro greens are in the top ten of healthy food, and even better, you can grow your own at home, and you don't need a garden, any simple containers will do. Micro greens are simply various types of young plants that are harvested when very young and small. Several different names have been used recently for these such as micro greens, microveg, microherbs, baby salad, and baby leaves. I'll stick with the more usual micro greens, although it can be given as a single word rather than two.

They are germinated, grown and then variously used from as little as 5 days old up to as much as 6 weeks, depending on what you want them for and your personal preference.

You've heard about sprouting seed, and they aren't exactly a favourite of most people.

Well these are a bit different, as only the shoots and leaves are used whereas in sprouting seeds you normally use the entire plant including the root and they are only harvested up to a few days after germination.

Harvesting just the leaves / shoots provides you with enhanced and more intense flavors, and sometimes a different taste to the mature plants plus all the good stuff. You can use the obvious plants such as the various salad leaves, lettuce types and kale for instance, but a surprising number of other vegetables lend themselves to this cropping system, especially carrots, beetroot, peas, beans and many of the oriental vegetables that are now readily available.

They are also very good for you being low in calories and stuffed full of good bits. They would actually rate in the top ten of superfoods but just aren't generally known as everyday food, but they are offered in many top restaurants.

Micro greens came into prominence some years ago and became part of top menus in the smart restaurants particularly in California, New York and London where they are currently undergoing a revival and have become a classic addition to meals.

Micro greens are expensive to buy but are surprisingly easy to grow at home and at a reasonable cost, certainly cheaper than buying from the specialist suppliers around or the supermarkets. Supermarket prices for the various micro greens are currently around £1.20 to £1.60 per pre-pack bag. That's for 100g so it works out at £12.00 or more per kilo! But you can grow them for at least half this and considerably less with some thought.

The revival has spread now with micro greens appearing in magazines and TV programs for cooking and gardening. They are undergoing resurgence also in view of their dietary and health benefits (especially when they can be home grown). More advantages include the facts that micro greens can be grown at home in containers, they don't need much space, just a windowsill can be enough.

This is only a brief account of microgreens, if it has whetted your appetite (!) then more detailed information can be found at the How to grow my own website. The direct link for the appropriate page is in the resource box.

[http://www.howtogrowmyown.com/index.php?pr=Micro_Greens]