Microgreens Growing Spaces
When starting a microgreens operation, one of the most fundamental — and often overlooked — decisions you’ll make is choosing the right growing space. This decision is more than just selecting where you’ll place a few trays of pea shoots. It’s about understanding how your space supports — or limits — your production, workflow, efficiency, sanitation, and scalability. Your growing area must integrate with a range of other workspaces, including harvest, seeding, washing, storage, and packaging areas. These elements are all interconnected, and without thoughtful planning, your space can quickly become the bottleneck that holds your business back.
Choosing the Right Microgreens Growing Space for Your Operation: A Practical Introduction
Introduction to Microgreens Growing Spaces Starting a microgreens business comes with its fair share of excitement — quick crop cycles, low startup costs, and the ability to grow nutritious food in surprisingly small spaces. But as you dig into the nuts and bolts of production, one of the first and most important questions you’ll face…
Covered Benches: An Accessible, Expandable Outdoor Microgreens Growing Space
Introduction to Microgreens Growing Benches Microgreens growing benches are one of the simplest and most effective ways to begin producing microgreens, particularly in milder climates. They represent a low-barrier, semi-outdoor infrastructure option that provides a surprising amount of flexibility. Originally developed out of necessity for low-cost infrastructure that could be rapidly deployed and adapted, the…
Indoor Home Production: From Basements to Bedrooms to Living Rooms
Introduction For many aspiring growers, the easiest place to begin producing microgreens is indoors at home — especially during colder seasons or in dense urban areas with limited outdoor space. Indoor home production can be as modest as a metal rack with a few lights in your basement, living room, or spare room. Home is…
Garage-Based Microgreens Production: A Practical Intermediate Step
Introduction If you’ve outgrown your living room grow rack but aren’t quite ready for a commercial lease, a garage can be the perfect transitional space. Garages offer more flexibility and capacity than indoor home setups, while still benefiting from the cost-saving advantages of using property you already own or rent. Many successful growers scale up…
Warehouse Microgreens Production: Scaling Up for Commercial Volume
Introduction When demand grows beyond what a garage can handle, many growers consider moving into a commercial warehouse space. This is a major step — both in operational complexity and in cost. A warehouse can support hundreds of trays per week, but it also requires serious investment in infrastructure, utilities, and (often) regulatory compliance. Warehouse…
Greenhouse Microgreens Production: Harnessing the Power of Sunlight
Introduction Greenhouses occupy a unique and powerful middle ground between low-cost outdoor setups and high-investment warehouse systems. They combine the environmental control of indoor production with the natural benefits of sunlight, offering a high-performance space that can scale up or down depending on your needs and climate. Maximizing Light At their core, greenhouses are about…
Essential Work Areas for Microgreens Production: Beyond the Grow Rack
Introduction Growing microgreens may begin with a tray and some seeds, but sustaining a microgreens business requires a lot more than just growing. Behind every thriving tray is a network of supporting workspaces that keep the operation organized, clean, efficient, and scalable. From prepping trays and sanitizing seeds to harvesting, washing, packaging, and storing equipment…
Designing Microgreens Workflow and Layout: Creating Flow, Minimizing Risk
Introduction to Microgreens Workflow When setting up a microgreens production site, one of the most impactful — and often underappreciated — tasks is designing a site layout that supports efficient workflow and reduces the risk of contamination. Whether you’re working in a greenhouse, warehouse, or backyard setup, your layout directly affects how well your system…
2.0 Outline: Microgreens Growing Space, Work Areas and Equipment
Let’s dive into the physical components of a typical microgreens system.
Course 2.1: Microgreens Growing Spaces
Here we introduce you to some of the many places you can grow microgreens and some of the pros and cons of each. Downloadable Audio File: Embedded Video:
Course 2.2: Microgreens Harvest Area and Equipment
Your harvest area is an important component of your production system and must be set up well to ensure efficient and hygienic harvesting of your crops. Downloadable Audio File: Embedded Video:
Course 2.3: Microgreens Tray Preparation and Seeding Area
Having a designated tray prep and seeding area helps keep things organized and reduces the risk of cross contamination in your system. Downloadable Audio: Embedded Video:
Course 2.4: Microgreens Seed Soaking and Sanitizing Area
For seeds that need to be soaked, having a designated area makes this task much easier. Downloadable Audio: Embedded Video:
Course 2.5: Microgreens Wash up Area
A good wash up area is easily neglected, but makes all the difference in an efficient microgreens system. Downloadable Audio: Embedded Video:
Course 3.2: Microgreens Growing Conditions
In this course we take a look at the environmental conditions you need to consider when growing your microgreens, including: light, temperature, airflow, and humidity. Downloadable Audio: Embedded Video:
