About the Kitchen Garden
This sprouter was originally produced by Back To Basics.
That company has been purchased by another (bigger) company,
but the sprouter remains the same.
The Kitchen Garden is great for growing vertical Leafy sprouts, but is also a exceptional all-purpose sprouter.
The bottom of every tray is full of small holes and the sides are slotted, both of which allow for exceptional drainage, though as usual, you still have to play
an active part. The Kitchen Garden is made of light but durable, food grade, white plastic. It is not dishwasher safe.
The only drawback is that the holes will require a little poking on your part. When you clean the Kitchen Garden it is handy to have a firm brush, especially after harvesting a crop of small seeded
(Alfalfa, Clover, Broccoli, etc.) sprouts. You'll want a paper clip or the like to help get any stuck seeds out. Kitchen Garden is also a light weight device. When
rinsing, hold it by its corners. Holding it along the side makes it possible for the tray to crack. I have tried to make ours crack but have not been able to, to
date.
Each tray measures 8 inches x 8 inches and is 1 3/4 inches deep. Each tray will grow between 14-18 ounces of Leafy (Alfalfa/
Clover) type sprouts or 26-36 ounces of Bean or Grain sprouts.
Growing Capacity
Slightly more than 1 Quart
Eat More Sprouts + Grow More Often - Easily!
For Sprouting Instructions, click the name of the Seed or Mix you want to grow.
FOR USE WITH THESE SEEDS/CROPS
Seeds to Sprout
In the Kitchen Garden
These seeds are a Perfect match for the Kitchen Garden:
Leafy Sprouts: Alfalfa, Clover and Mixes -
Leafy sprouts are the best thing about using the Kitchen Garden. When you grow these in a tray they grow vertically, roots down, leaves up! It is very beautiful! Hulls shed naturally as the sprouts grow in
this manner. Remaining hulls can be "shaved" off.
Brassicas - Broccoli, Radish, Mustard,
Cabbage, etc.
These will work just great as long as you remember to keep them from forming a mass. Do Not try to grow Brassicas vertically!
Exotics - Garlic, Onion, Fenugreek,
Clem's Choice, Hot + Sweet, etc
Beans - All (see Mung Note below)
Grains - All
Nuts, Seeds, and Pseudograins - Almonds, Pumpkins,
Peanuts, Sunflower, etc.
Pre-Sprout Perfection and Possibilities:
Grass and Greens - Because the Kitchen Garden is a tray sprouter, it is possible to grow
Grass and Greens without soil. Doing so always requires extra attention but as long as you keep the seeds moist all
through growing, it can be done. WE ARE NOT suggesting this as a good way to grow these crops but we are saying that it is possible. Experiment Freely! The major problem is that some grass will grow out the
sides and the roots will grow out of the sides near the bottom and through holes in the bottom - in a big way. Be sure to cut everything off when you harvest. If you try to pull it out you will likely hurt the
Kitchen Garden.
Do Not even bother trying Sunflower Greens - they taste horrible (to our taste buds) without soil (our opinion).
Alternately, you can use a planting medium (Vermiculite or Baby Blanket) in the Kitchen
Garden, but the issues will be the same excepting thay you'll not have as much work keeping the crop moist. You are much better off using nursery trays for those crops in our
opinion.
Mung Beans - The big issues with growing long, thick rooted Mungs is keeping them dark while growing and applying weight to the
growing sprouts. The Kitchen Garden, is neither deep nor dark inside and applying weight is not particularly easy with this device, so it is best you only grow short n' sweet mungs in this sprouter.
Read the notes further down the page.
Impossible is not a word we like:
Micro-Greens are only possible in the Kitchen Garden if you use soil or another planting medium. Baby Blanket is the best choice if you are going to try.
Kitchen Garden Sprouting Instructions
Specific Sprouting Instructions are found on the page devoted to the Seed or Mix you are interested in.
Below are Kitchen Garden specifics.
Not all seeds require this step. See the seed information page to see if you need to do this for the seed you are sprouting.
Kitchen Garden is swell at allowing you to run water through seeds, but getting the seeds out to Soak would be a problem with small
seeds, so you'll be happier if you don't prep any but big seeds (beans, grains, greens, etc.)
with Kitchen Garden.
You can not Soak in Kitchen Garden. Use a bowl or similar water holding unit.
Rinse each tray individually and Drain well before re-stacking. Hold Kitchen Garden under your faucet or better yet,
your sprayer for 15 - 20 seconds - using cool (60 - 70°) water (unless instructed otherwise on our seed instruction pages). Move the sprayer or Kitchen Garden around to get all of the crop watered well.
The rule to remember is: Rinse at least until the water runs clear from the bottom of the tray. Try to "be the sprout".
Empathy can lead you to feel when every sprout is happily rinsed.
When you are done Rinsing you need to get as much of the water out of the tray as possible. Bounce it until no more water comes out.
When you are growing big seeds it is easy enough to get most of the water out, but when they are small seeds, there will always be some water left, so bounce more than you think is necessary.
It can't hurt!
Stack your trays - if stacking - after they have been well Drained. Do be aware that air-circulation
is reduced in the Kitchen Garden when the trays are stacked - so Rinse more often or separate your trays. You'll have to separate the trays if the sprouts grow
taller than the trays or need light anyway. Don't feel confused - just pay attention to your sprouts - they'll do great!
If you are growing sprouts with leaves, uncover trays and locate them where they can get some light (according to the directions on that seed's information page). Since you are dealing with trays you can
get away with more light than when using enclosed sprouters. You can even use direct sunlight, but do pay attention as the sun hastens drying and heats up the sprouts, so you might have to rinse more often with
cool water to compensate. Experiment and see. You'll do fine with minimal light too so don't feel like you have to push it.
One of the finest things about Kitchen Garden is hull removal when growing Leafy sprouts. All you have to do is turn
the tray at an angle and spray the hulls off with a sprayer. A faucet can even do it. By the time you get to this stage your sprouts will be so firmly rooted
that you can turn the tray at a 90° angle (you can even go to 180° but there is no point to that - that I can think of). We call this form of de-hulling: "Shaving".
Seed Specific Sprouting Instructions
If you have a particular seed type in mind, read on to discover further details of Tray sprouting that seed type.
Refer to the seed's main information page for detailed instructions.
These are the seeds/sprouts that really show off the Kitchen Garden. You can grow these sprouts vertically - roots down and leaves up! We did this for years as professional sprout growers
(though we used different - larger - trays) and found ours to be the most beautiful Leafy sprouts we've ever seen. Vertical growing also makes
de-hulling virtually automatic - as the leaves open and shed their hulls, the
hulls wash away during Rinses. This is also the method that achieves the most
greening as almost all of the leaves are exposed to light. None of these things are necessary for great Leafy sprouts.
Regardless of the growing method you use, the sprouts taste great and are full of nutrition!
The method for vertical growing is written on each of the Leafy sprout information pages, but here they are anyway:
The trick to doing this is to keep your sprouts in place (don't "break them up" as you do in a non-tray sprouter) from day 3 onward. It is easy to do if, when
Rinsing, you use a sprayer (that attachment most sinks have - the one that pulls out and is gun-like or a faucet attachment that
offers spraying when pulled down) instead of your faucet. We have grown many tons of Leafy sprouts this way. Here is a breakdown
of the specifics (Rinse numbers are based on 12 hour intervals - adjust as needed):
Rinse 1 (right after soak): Use faucet or sprayer and rinse thoroughly (use water at high pressure and use plenty of it).
Rinse 2 and 3: Use faucet or sprayer and rinse thoroughly.
Rinse 4: Use sprayer and while Rinsing thoroughly, spray your sprouts evenly across the bottom of the tray. You can use your hands to spread them too.
The goal is to spread them evenly.
Rinse 5 and 6: Use sprayer with less water pressure. Rinse well - (which since you are using less water pressure means - for a longer time) but don't disturb
the sprouts.
Rinse 7 - 10: Use sprayer. You can turn the water pressure back to high - your sprouts will not be easily moved (broken up) at this point and the higher water pressure feeds oxygen to your sprouts as
well as "cleaning" them, which is a wonderful way to produce healthy long lasting sprouts. Rinse and Drain
thoroughly.
Rinse 11 (if you need this many) or your last rinse: Use Sprayer. Hold your tray at an angle (90° will work but less is OK too) and spray across the top of the
sprouts to remove hulls. We call this form of de-hulling SHAVING and it can be done at any
Rinse or every Rinse - starting when hulls begin to be shed by the
opening leaves. Rinse down into the sprouts too. Drain as thoroughly as possible after your last
Rinse - you want your sprouts to dry enough to refrigerate in 8-12 hours.
Vertical growing CAN be done without a sprayer too but it is more difficult. If you want to try all you have to do is regulate your water pressure - trying to keep your sprouts
undisturbed during rinses 4 - 6.
Greening is done according to the directions on the seed information page.
If you don't wish to grow vertically just follow the standard seed directions on the seed information page.
Maximum dry seed = 4 Tablespoons per tray.
Follow the seed information page instructions for the bean you are growing.
Maximum dry seed = 1.5 cups per tray.
If you are going for small sweet Mungs you need only follow the directions on the Mung Bean information page. If you are going for big and thick you really need another
device. The open sides, short stature and difficulty in weighing down the crop make Kitchen Garden a poor choice.
Maximum dry seed = 1.5 cups for small sprouts per tray.
Broccoli, Radish, Cabbage, Mustard, etc.
need to move while sprouting or they will form a root mass (beginning around day 3) which is at least unpleasant and often lessens the sprouts' quality. Solution: Break Up/Loosen the mass. Use high water
pressure at every Rinse to keep the sprouts loose. If they mass together despite your high pressure efforts (which is not uncommon - especially if you are growing the
maximum amount of sprouts the Kitchen Garden can grow), transfer the sprouts to a big bowl or pot type container. Fill the container with cool water (you can also use high pressure water to fill the container
if you want to get a head start on loosening) and reach in with your hands (as long as they are clean, hands are always the best choice) or a fork or the like and gently separate the sprouts. Go ahead and skim
any hulls that are floating on top and then transfer your Brassica sprouts back to Kitchen Garden. You don't have to, but
we Rinse again once they are back in their tray. Keep breaking up the mass at every rinse or 2 after that as well.
If you just won't believe that Brassicas can't grow vertically, go ahead and try it - there is no better way to learn and learning is a good thing (as long as you don't hurt anyone!).
You should try it with Radish if you must, as it will be the least bad of the Brassicas (it can even produce an edible crop of
micro-greens if you get lucky). Just follow the directions above for leafy sprouts. I bet you've never seen blue roots before.....
Maximum dry seed = 5 Tablespoons per tray.
Garlic, Leek and Onion require no extra information. Just remember - these all take about 2
weeks to finish sprouting so keep Rinsing and Draining!
Maximum dry seed = 6 Tablespoons per tray.
Follow the seed information page instructions for the grain you are growing.
Maximum dry seed = 1.5 cups per tray.
Follow the seed information page instructions for the nut or seed you are growing.
Maximum dry seed = 1.5 cups per tray.
Because the Kitchen Garden has a top and bottom it can grow Grass and Greens without soil. Doing so always requires extra attention
but as long as you keep the seeds moist all through growing, it can be done. WE ARE NOT suggesting this as a good way to grow these crops but we are saying that it is possible. Experiment Freely!
The major problem is that some grass will grow out the sides and the roots will grow out of the sides near the bottom and through holes in the bottom - in a big way.
Be sure to cut everything off when you harvest. If you try to pull it out you will likely hurt the Kitchen Garden.
Do Not even bother trying Sunflower Greens - they taste horrible (to our taste buds) without soil (our opinion).
Alternately, you can use a planting medium (Vermiculite or Baby Blanket)
in the Kitchen Garden, but the issues will be the same excepting thay you'll not have as much work keeping the crop moist. You are much better off using nursery trays for those
crops in our opinion.
Kitchen Garden is a great Pre-Sprouter of course!
Maximum dry seed = 2.5 cups per tray for Pre-Sprouting.
If you want to grow all the way: Determine how much seed to soak by spreading dry seed evenly on the bottom of the tray. If you evenly cover the bottom of the tray with dry seed, you'll have the right
amount of soaked seed to grow Grass or Greens.
Pre-Sprouting only and only non-mucilagionous seeds!
Notes
Cleaning: If you sprout small seeds in Kitchen Garden you might need to poke a few out. We use a paper clip or toothpick. Scrub well between crops with soap and water. A firm kitchen brush can does a very good job on this sprouter. Rinse well!
Sterilize: Soap and water usually do the trick, but you can use something stronger every several crops. We used bleach back in the day, but we don't anymore, unless absolutely necessary.
There are many options these days, and though an unclean sprouter can cause your crop to fail - we suggest food grade hydrogen peroxide or grapefruit seed extract - or anything else you are comfortable with. We might even offer something by now, for sterilizing. Whatever you go with, do remember: It is always true, that a sterile sprouter is a great place to begin a crop.
Kitchen Garden Assembly
This is what the sprouter looks like in its package.
When you remove the Kitchen Garden from its packaging it looks like this.
The slightly smaller tray is nested inside the larger tray.
To stack the trays, the larger fits atop the smaller tray and the smaller tray sits on a solid shallow flat base/cover.
Use the other shallow piece to cover the top tray.
When your sprouts are ready for greening and are too tall to be stacked,
lay the trays, side by side or across the room (it matters not) in one of the shallow solid bases to collect any excess water that drains out.
