How to Grow Alfalfa
Microgreens
The fastest crop in the growing year — fine, crisp, mildly nutty shoots from a jar and a square of muslin in five to seven days; no soil, no garden and no season, so a January windowsill grows them as readily as a July one
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is the crop that asks least of you and gives back soonest. A clean jam jar, a square of muslin and an elastic band are the entire kit. Soak a tablespoon of seed overnight, drain it, rinse it morning and evening, and by the end of the week the jar is full of fine pale shoots ready to tip onto a plate. There is no bed to prepare, no weather to wait for and no season to work around — this is the one thing on the farm we can grow in the depths of a Norfolk January exactly as well as in high summer.
What sets alfalfa apart from the other microgreens we sell is its delicacy. Radish and rocket give you heat; cress gives you pepper. Alfalfa gives you something much quieter — tender, faintly nutty, clean-tasting shoots with none of the sharpness of the brassicas. That makes it the one to reach for when you want freshness without a flavour that takes over: piled into a sandwich, scattered over noodles, or laid lightly across a summer plate. It is also, for the same reason, the microgreen children will actually eat.
Quick Facts at a Glance
Type
Sprout / microgreen
Time to harvest
5–7 days in a jar · 8–12 days in a tray
Flavour
Mild, clean, faintly nutty — no heat, no bitterness
Equipment needed
Jar · Muslin and band · Water · Windowsill
Season
Year-round — indoors, any month
Difficulty
1 out of 5 — the easiest crop in the whole Bishy range
Understanding Alfalfa Shoots
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume, grown across the world as a fodder crop and known in Britain for generations as lucerne. In a field it will send roots several metres down and keep cutting for years. On a windowsill you are seeing it at the opposite end of its life: a seedling four or five days old, all of the seed's stored energy converted into a fine white stem and a pair of small green seed leaves. Everything the shoot needs is already inside the seed, which is why it needs no compost, no feed and no light to get going.
Sprouts or Microgreens? Alfalfa Can Be Either
The difference is simply where you grow it and when you stop. Grown in a jar and rinsed twice a day, alfalfa is a sprout — you eat the whole thing, seed hull, stem and root, after about five days. Grown on a shallow tray of compost and cut with scissors at the base, it is a microgreen — longer, more uniform, greener, and ready at eight to twelve days. Both come from the same packet of seed. The jar is faster and needs nothing; the tray is tidier on the plate and gives you a better-looking garnish.
Start a New Batch Every Five Days
A jar of alfalfa is cut-and-done — once you have tipped it out, that jar is finished. Keep two or three jars in rotation and start a fresh one every four to five days. One is soaking, one is growing, one is being eaten, and you are never without. It takes about a minute a day in total.
Growing Step by Step
Soak one to two tablespoons of seed overnight. Put the seed in a clean jam jar, cover with several times its volume of cold water, and leave it on the side for eight to twelve hours. The seed will swell to about three times its dry size, so do not be tempted to fill the jar — a tablespoon looks like nothing and becomes a jarful.
Drain, and cover the jar with muslin. Fix a square of muslin, fine netting or a clean j-cloth over the mouth with an elastic band. Pour the soaking water away and shake the seed out along the side of the jar so it is not sitting in a heap at the bottom. Lay the jar on its side, or stand it at an angle in a bowl with the mouth downwards so it keeps draining.
Rinse morning and evening, and drain thoroughly every time. Fill the jar through the muslin with cold water, swirl, and tip it all straight back out. The draining matters more than the rinsing — standing water at the bottom of the jar is the single reason alfalfa goes wrong. Give it a good shake and leave it tilted mouth-down between rinses.
Keep it at room temperature, out of direct sun. Anywhere between 18 and 22°C is ideal. Alfalfa does not need light to sprout, and a kitchen worktop is perfectly good for the first three or four days. Give it a couple of hours on a bright windowsill towards the end and the seed leaves will green up nicely.
Harvest at five to seven days, when the shoots are 3–5cm. Tip the jar out into a bowl of cold water, swirl, and skim off the loose seed hulls that float — this is worth doing, as the hulls are the part that spoils first. Drain well, and keep in the fridge in a lidded box lined with kitchen paper for up to four days.
The Tray Method, If You Want a Neater Shoot
Scatter three to four tablespoons of soaked seed across a 20cm tray of damp seed compost, do not cover it, and put a second tray or a plate over the top for the first three days. Uncover, move to good indirect light, and keep the surface just moist. Cut with scissors at the base at eight to twelve days, when the shoots stand 5–7cm. You get longer, greener, more uniform shoots and no seed hulls to pick out — at the cost of a few more days and a bag of compost.
Using, Eating & Enjoying
Sandwiches and Wraps
This is what alfalfa is best at. A generous handful in a cheese, ham or egg sandwich gives you crunch and freshness without adding a flavour that argues with the filling — which is exactly why it became the standard sandwich shoot. It holds up far better than lettuce in a packed lunch, too, and does not go limp against a warm filling.
Over Soups, Noodles and Rice
Scatter over a finished bowl rather than cooking it. Alfalfa wilts almost instantly in heat, so add it at the table: over a noodle broth, a bowl of rice, a dhal, or a thick winter soup. The contrast between something hot and heavy and a handful of cold crisp shoots is the whole point.
Salads and Summer Plates
Because the flavour is so mild, alfalfa bulks out a salad without fighting the dressing. It works particularly well with anything oily or rich — smoked mackerel, avocado, a good mayonnaise — and looks handsome laid loosely across a plate rather than tossed through.
A Good First Crop for Children
Visible change every single day, a harvest inside a week, and no soil, tools or outdoor space involved. Alfalfa is also the mildest of the microgreens, so children who baulk at peppery cress or hot radish will usually eat it happily. Letting them do the two daily rinses gives them the whole job from start to finish.
No Garden Required
A jam jar, a square of muslin and an elastic band. That is genuinely the entire investment, and it fits on the smallest windowsill in the smallest flat. For anyone without a garden — or anyone who wants something growing in the middle of winter — this is the shortest possible route to a crop you have raised yourself.
Nutritional Value
Alfalfa shoots are a useful source of vitamin K, vitamin C and several B vitamins, along with folate and manganese, in a very small volume. Like all seedlings they are best eaten fresh — the vitamin C in particular falls away in storage — so cut or tip out what you need and keep the rest growing.
Worth Knowing Before You Start — Raw Sprouts and Food Safety
Sprouted seeds are grown in warm, damp conditions, and those are the conditions bacteria like too. The risk is small and easily managed: start with a clean jar, rinse and drain twice a day without fail, and eat the shoots within a few days. UK food safety advice is that pregnant women, young children, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system should cook sprouted seeds thoroughly rather than eat them raw — a quick stir-fry or a minute in a hot soup is enough. If a batch ever smells sour or musty, or feels slimy, put it on the compost heap and start another. It costs a tablespoon of seed.
The Alfalfa Calendar
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🌱 Sow any time | ||||||||||||
| ✂️ Harvest |
Common Problems & Solutions
| Problem | Likely Cause | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Sour or musty smell | Water sitting in the jar; not draining between rinses | Healthy alfalfa smells of almost nothing — faintly green and fresh. A sour or musty smell means the batch has gone over. Compost it and start again, and this time shake the jar out hard after every rinse and leave it tilted mouth-down so it drains continuously rather than sitting in a puddle. |
| White fuzz on the roots | Almost always root hairs, not mould | A fine white halo evenly distributed along the roots is root hairs, and it is a sign of a healthy batch — a rinse will usually flatten it. True mould is different: greyish, cobwebby, patchy rather than even, and it comes with a musty smell. If in doubt, go by the smell. |
| Seeds not sprouting | Kitchen too cold; soak too short | Alfalfa is happiest at 18–22°C and slows markedly in a cold room. Move the jar somewhere warmer — not on a radiator — and check the seed had a full eight to twelve hour soak. A few hard seeds in every batch simply will not sprout; that is normal and not a fault in the seed. |
| Shoots pale and leggy | No light at all towards the end | Alfalfa does not need light to sprout, but a couple of hours of bright indirect light on days four and five will green the seed leaves and improve both the look and the flavour. A north or east-facing sill is ideal; strong direct sun through glass will cook them. |
| Bitter or grassy taste | Left too long | Alfalfa is at its best when the seed leaves have just opened and the shoot is 3–5cm. Left another few days it puts on true leaves and the flavour turns green and grassy. Tip the jar out on day five or six rather than letting it run on. |
Growing Specifications
A jar, a square of muslin, and fresh green shoots by the end of the week
Soak a tablespoon of seed tonight, rinse it twice a day, and you will be tipping out a jarful of fine, crisp, mildly nutty shoots before the weekend. No garden, no compost, no season and no waiting for the weather — just the shortest route there is from a packet of seed to something you have grown yourself and can put straight on a plate.
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