GROW YOUR OWN FENUGREEK & MUSTARD GREENS

Skip LOVES gardening. He has his small, neon green and pink plastic rake and shovel and spends countless hours planting seeds of fruits and vegetables in the garden. When we had been to Thailand last year, I found a Durian and a Rambutan seed, neatly wrapped in a tissue paper, in his backpack. Skip was upset when i told him that we couldn't carry it back home.

I, on the other hand, clearly haven't been blessed with green fingers. I have a few potted plants in my balcony that I religiously water every morning. I can't say they are the healthiest looking plants but they are surviving because Skip ensures they do. 

Skip and I decdied to grow garlic in our pots but when I saw that it would take almost 3 months for the bulbs to grow , I dismissed the idea and suggested planting Fenugreek and Mustard seeds instead. 

This is a fun activity to do with your children. 

It doesn't require any effort at all. 

The materials are readily available at home. 

It is a satisfying experience to see those little leaves sprout out. 

The leaves may be used in your cooking. 

The internet has a whole range of videos and tutorials (there's also a page on wikiHow!) on how to grow these leaves. The process has been described at length. Let me just simplify that in our post.

Disclaimer: this DIY is for the purpose of keeping your children occupied. If you need to know the process for large scale harvesting, this may not be the tutorial for you. 

Take a pot. If you don't have one, take a plastic container(I used an ice cream tub and a takeaway container).

Punch holes on the bottom of the container. I heated a knife and sliced through the tub (wipe and clean knife immediately after this step) .

Fill it with soil. 

I randomly sprinkled the mustard and fenugreek seeds into the soil into their respective pots. You may plant them neatly a few inches apart. 

Top it with another inch of soil. As you can see from the image , some seeds are still on top. It doesn't matter. They'll sprout too. 

Gently water the soil. Don't put too much water else the seeds will rot. 

Cover the containers with a lid as that will help retain moisture. Also I'm pretty certain that a pigeon from the neighbouring apartment was eyeing us the whole time, waiting to peck at the seeds. Water the seeds twice a day. 

Voila the seeds begin to sprout in a day and the shoots will begin to appear by Day 3.Remove the lid once the shoots begin to grow.

Get your children to paint an ice cream stick and name the pots. 

When the shoots are at least one inch long (mustard)/ two inches long (Fenugreek) nip them and put them in a bowl of water. Mud, if any, will settle at the bottom.  We've used these leaves in our curries, stir fries, omelettes, salads and also on the pizza (insert link). 

Note : Fenugreek leaves ought to be nipped when they are tender. The more they mature, the bitter they get. 

Have fun growing these plants with your children and please do send us pictures of the same. We'll post them on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Skip and I plan to grow coriander and mint leaves next.