Talk about a plant-based diet.
You don’t actually need a green thumb to start growing your own healthy food at home, promises Welsh chef and influencer Gaz Oakley — in fact, you don’t even need a garden or a yard.
Oakley says there are several things you can grow inside your house or apartment with just a sunny window, some soil and water — and he handpicked the three easiest, most low-maintenance foods that have tons of nutritional value.
“I’ve actually started doing this as an experiment to show people that you don’t need space,” he told The Post.
#1: Microgreens
“I think the most nutritious thing you could start off with and that takes up a limited space is microgreens,” said Oakley, who recently published “Plant to Plate: Delicious and Versatile Plant-Forward Recipes.”
These come in lots of varieties and include cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, watercress, radish, arugula, radicchio, chard, spinach, chives, dill, endive, and herbs like mint, basil, rosemary, sage and oregano — all harvested when they’re small and young.
Nutrients in microgreens are more concentrated than in full-grown plants, meaning they pack 4 to 40 times as much nutritional punch.
Kale, for example, has tons of vitamins
You don’t need any special equipment, either. He uses a cut-open Oatley milk carton, fills it with soil and sprinkles in seeds.
“They need just sunlight, so you need to be putting them somewhere where there’s sun, and give them daily watering,” he recommended.
“I always say most vegetables are less sensitive than your average house plants. House plants are the most drama queen plants I’ve ever known. You give them everything and they just die, and it’s really annoying. But vegetables, they’re a bit more resilient.”
You can harvest these after about eight days when they’re around two inches tall, and they’ll continue to grow back over and over again.
“They’re so nutritious and you should eat them right away that they’re incredible for you,” said Oakley, who recommends them as toppings or ingredients for smoothies.
#2: Tomatoes
Tomatoes are great for your heart, lungs, eyes, skin, teeth and blood vessels. Besides vitamins C and K, potassium and folate, they’re packed with the antioxidant lycopene — which can lower your risk of cancer and help manage a bunch of diseases.
Oakley says these are very easy to grow — and planting these in front of a sunny window will “all be worth it.”
“You just need a small bucket with some holes in the bottom. Put a plate underneath it. Or you can go fancy and get a nice terracotta pot and fill it with some compost,” he said.
“You can get it to buy a tomato plant from a garden center, or you can sow your seeds into a little tray first and then transplant it. Water every now and then, and maybe give it some support with a piece of bamboo.
“And then in about two months’ time, you will have tomatoes to harvest.”
End up with more tomatoes than you can eat? Oakley recommends fermenting them into something like his tomato kimchi recipe. It’s “so delicious,” he said — and you get that extra bang for your buck since fermented foods are great for gut health.
#3 Lettuce
If your home doesn’t get a ton of sunlight, you should still be able to grow lettuce — and it does best in spring and autumn climates.
No special planters necessary for this, either: He grows his in an old pipe split in half, filled with compost.
“Sprinkle some lettuce seeds on top, water every now and then, and within about 21 days, you’ll have lettuce,” he said.
“Pick the outer leaves and then leave the center leaves to grow and get bigger.”
Even if lettuce doesn’t get you terribly excited, it’s certainly versatile — and full of vitamin K (good for blood and bones), flavonoids (gets rid of those free radicals), and the “eye vitamin” lutein.
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