How to Grow Enough Microgreens for Your Family in New Zealand

Part 1 of our Growing Microgreens for Your Family in New Zealand series

• Part 1 – How to Grow Enough Microgreens for Your Family in New Zealand
• Part 2 – Choosing the Best Microgreen Trays and Equipment in New Zealand
• Part 3 – Choosing the Best Grow Lights for Microgreens in New Zealand
• Part 4 – Soil or Hydroponics? Which Method is Best for Growing Microgreens?

Let’s be honest: paying $5 to $7 for a tiny, plastic-wrapped punnet of slimy supermarket microgreens that spoils in 48 hours is a gut-punch to the household grocery budget. But when most Kiwi families try to grow their own, they fall into the "hobby kit" trap—buying tiny designer windowsill pods or pre-seeded paper mats that produce just enough for a single garnish before forcing you to wait two weeks for an expensive refill to arrive.

If you want a genuine, uninterrupted supply of nutrient-dense greens to actually feed your family every single day, even in the dead of a South Island winter when it’s raining sideways outside, you don't need a lifestyle block or a greenhouse. You just need a simple, strategic system. Here is the exact math, gear, and rhythm required to grow a non-stop family harvest right on your kitchen countertop.

Quick Answer

A family of four can usually enjoy fresh microgreens every day from around one to four 10×20 trays grown each week, depending on how heavily they use them.

Many home growers start with one or two trays and quickly discover they wish they had more.

Why Grow Microgreens for Your Family?

Microgreens are one of the few foods that can realistically be grown all year round almost anywhere in New Zealand.

You don't need a greenhouse.

You don't need a lifestyle block.

You don't even need sunlight.

A spare corner of a room, garage, laundry or office can produce a surprising amount of fresh food.

Once people start growing microgreens they often realise they can harvest a bowl of fresh greens in the middle of winter, regardless of whether it is raining sideways outside.

They're fast.

They're nutritious.

And unlike a lettuce, you don't need to wait months before harvesting.

How Much Space Do I Need?

Not much.

One shelving unit can provide enough microgreens for an entire household.

Our favorite setup for home growers is the 6-shelf heavy-duty Pinnacle unit available from Bunnings for around $180 (2020mm high x 1200mm wide x 540mm deep). It takes up less floor space than a wardrobe, but here is the secret commercial growers know: the 1200mm width is a perfect mathematical match for standard 1020 trays.

You can fit exactly four standard 1020 master trays side-by-side on a single shelf line. This means just one or two shelves on this unit can easily hold your entire active growing rotation, leaving the upper shelves completely free to store your bulk seeds, soil media, and spare inserts cleanly out of sight.

How Many Trays Should I Start With?

To make this rolling family rotation work smoothly without hitting a "feast or famine" supply wall, a modular system is ideal. Instead of planting one large tray all at once, you can use smaller inserts to stagger your sowing. For example, our Bootstrap Farmer 5×5 Continuous Harvest Bundle is designed specifically around this weekly rhythm. It gives you exactly enough trays to keep eight crops actively growing on your windowsill or shelf, while leaving four spare sets completely free to be cleaned, prepped, and sown for the following week's supply.

Option 2 – Traditional Trays

• Two 10×10 Bootstrap Farmer trays
• One 10×20 Bootstrap Farmer tray
• A sunny window or a simple LED light

This is enough to learn the basics and produce a few harvests each week.

Feeding a Couple

• One Bootstrap Farmer 5×5 Continuous Harvest Bundle.
• Two to six 10×10 Bootstrap Farmer trays and harvesting two or three trays each week

Feeding a Family

• Eight to twelve 10×10 Bootstrap Farmer trays
• Sowing one or two trays every day

or

• Sowing all trays on one day each week

Both approaches work.

Some growers enjoy spending five minutes each day sowing a tray.

Others prefer a single larger sowing session and then simply moving trays through germination, blackout and growing stages as the week progresses.

Choose whichever method fits your life.

What Varieties Should Families Grow?

If I was starting from scratch and growing for my own household, I'd probably begin with:

• Radish
• Pea
• Sunflower
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Pak choi
• Mustard
• Purple Kohlrabi

These are all forgiving crops and provide a good range of flavours and textures.

Broccoli and kale are excellent everyday additions.

Radish adds a peppery crunch.

Peas taste almost like fresh snow peas.

Just make sure you're getting untreated seed for microgreens or sprouting from a reputable supplier like Kings Seeds. They're untreated, tested for good germination and are honestly good value. 

How Many Grams of Microgreens Does a Family Eat?

This varies enormously.

A family using microgreens as a garnish might only eat 100 grams per week.

A family adding generous handfuls to sandwiches, salads, smoothies and cooked meals may use 300 to 700 grams every week.

Fortunately microgreens are quick enough to grow that you can easily adjust production as your family's habits change.

Keeping Track of Your Growing Schedule

One of the biggest surprises for new growers is remembering what was planted when.

A notebook works.

A spreadsheet works.

A wall calendar works.

Some growers also use Seedleaf.

At the time of writing, Seedleaf offers a hobby plan allowing up to fifty tray harvests before a subscription is required.

For many home growers that may be enough to decide whether dedicated software is worthwhile.

Growing Microgreens Without Feeling Overwhelmed

People often imagine growing microgreens means constantly sowing, watering and harvesting.

It doesn't have to.

Once you settle into a rhythm, the whole process becomes surprisingly relaxing.

Maybe Mondays are sowing days.

Maybe Wednesdays are harvest days.

Maybe you sow one tray every evening while dinner cooks.

After a few weeks you'll probably notice something interesting.

The shelves stop looking like trays.

Instead they start looking like meals waiting their turn.

What's Next?

Now that you've worked out roughly how many trays you'll need, the next question becomes much more interesting.

What trays should you buy?

Can cheap trays do the job?

Are Bootstrap Farmer trays actually worth the money?

And should you grow in soil or hydroponically?

Continue to Part 2 – Choosing the Best Microgreen Trays and Equipment in New Zealand

Frequently Asked Questions

How many trays of microgreens does a family need?

Most families can enjoy fresh microgreens every day from one to six standard 10×10 Bootstrap Farmer trays grown each week.

Can microgreens replace supermarket salad?

They can replace some salads and herbs, particularly during winter, although many people still enjoy combining them with larger leafy vegetables.

What are the easiest microgreens for beginners?

Radish, peas, sunflower, broccoli and kale are some of the easiest and most reliable crops to start with.

Do microgreens need grow lights?

No. A sunny window can work surprisingly well. Grow lights simply provide more consistent results, especially during winter or in rooms with limited natural light.

How much space do I need to grow microgreens?

A single shelving unit can provide enough microgreens for many households while occupying less floor space than a wardrobe.