Winter indoor salad gardening without grow lights

[herbgeek]

A few weeks ago, I attended a workshop on indoor salad gardening. I initially thought it was going to be about growing sprouts in jars (which we already do) but it was instead a different concept of soil sprouts. Surprisingly there is enough volume for the sprouts to BE the salad, instead of just the stuff you put on top. Just chop the plants off about 1/2 inch up from the soil, and cut into pieces.

Basic process is this: every morning I soak about a tablespoon of the following seeds- buckwheat, sunflower, pea and radish. Around dinner I plant each of these into disposable 3 x 5 aluminum bread pans with dirt and cover them with wet newspaper (to help germination). I put them in a box for 4 days- this makes the stems long, then when the sprouts are about an inch or so long, they come out to green up. I have a south facing window, but the originator of the method says that any window is fine. Total time to harvest is 7-11 days. I've been experimenting with a seed tray warming mat under the box and things are coming up faster. I have a rack (that I used for seed flats in the spring) where I keep all the plants on.

You only add a few tablespoons of water each day, so you don't need drainage holes. Makes them easier to move around etc since they are self contained. I reuse the bread pans and compost the roots and dirt from each batch.

I've been enjoying daily (sometimes twice daily) salads with this method for a couple of weeks now. Its really good to get that vibrancy in my food this time of year, as well as get my gardening fix in.

The workshop guy has a book which I bought, but he freely shares the basic information at http://thedailygardener.com/

[razz]

That is exactly what I have been looking for so thanks so much for posting this. My Wacky Women group meet weekly and we will be doing seed sprouting shortly so I will sprout and take some seeds to demonstrate the how to.

[Kestra]

Awesome. I want to start something like this after I move in the fall. I spend a lot of money on greens from the store and will likely be limited for outdoor gardening space, not to mention the relatively short growing season where I'll be living.

[Mary B.]

This is so interesting! Thanks for posting it. We recently started sprouting things in jars again, and this would be a good thing to add.

[lessisbest]

Did they call them micro-greens, because that's what they are. I've included them in my winter indoor garden for eons, along with sprouts (my little garden-in-a-jar), wheatgrass (which I grow in 5-inch pots using = 1/4-cup of sprouted wheat) and herbs growing in a sunny south window. After that, I have a couple hydroponic systems. Here's more information about growing micro-greens from SproutPeople: https://sproutpeople.org/seeds/microgreens/

[herbgeek]

The instructor emphasized these were not microgreens. He said those are harvested after a couple of set of leaves at about 3-4 weeks time. Here, we're just eating the seed leaves and harvesting after a week to 10 days. He called them soil sprouts.

[razz]

All i can say is that I am glad this was posted.

I am going on a shopping trip for seeds on Wednesday at William Dam Seeds with the goal of growing and giving a session to my local hurt society telling them all about it. More exploring this project will increase the choices for eating.
What are the best seeds to buy at first? Is there a difference in soils used? What soil depth has worked best for you? What kind of sunflowers?

Checking out the seed supplies, I can buy buckwheat with no questions. Peas and radish have options- tillage seeds or regular packets?

Can you recognize the person who sees 10 varieties of jeans in a store and walks out without buying any due to too many choices:|(

[lessisbest]

razz -
Don't use seed packets (or seeds used for gardening) for sprouting because those seeds are treated. I use the same seeds I mill for flour, or use for cooking for sprouting - with a few exception that are specifically for sprouting. I sprout mushroom popcorn because we don't like it for popping (too many hulls) - so that's another use for it. I have some raw Spanish peanuts left from making peanut brittle and I'm going to sprout them. I make a sprout mixture and then use it to make fried patties. I like to keep a stack of them in the freezer for vegetarian meals.

I always sprout buckwheat, then dehydrate it before using it. I turn the buckwheat sprouts, plus some other pantry ingredients into "granola" by dehydrating it. Most seeds/grains/beans are improved by soaking and/or sprouting before using them.

There are also new recommendations to use acidified water (water with citric acid in it) for soaking and rinsing sprouts in order to help prevent bacteria growth. Most people don't know, or don't follow these suggestions if they do know. I always use acidified water to prevent bacteria growth, and it also helps your sprouts work faster and helps keep them from spoiling.

[herbgeek]

The seeds I'm using are: radish, sunflower, buckwheat and peas. I just press them into the surface and cover with wet newspaper. I'm using seed starting mix, not potting soil. Feel free to private message me with further questions, I'm happy to pass on what I learned.

[Birdie]

Thanks for posting this, I was able to find the book at the library and starting sprouting seeds last week. I bought a pound of mixed sprouting seeds a couple of months ago and they work well for this. I've also tried buckwheat and mungbeans which I already had on hand too. I just needed to get the little pans. I am amazed at the volume of greens that grow from the little pans.

I did make the mistake of trying to grow large and small seeds in the same pan, and as they grew at different rates I found it easier to stick with one variety per pan. The sprouting mix I have is small seeds, so they tend to grow at a similar rate.

I do have a question about growing wheatgrass as Lessisbest mentioned. Do you grow yours in potting soil or coir or something else? Looking online, it looks like either way works well, very similar to the process of growing seeds in the book mentioned above. I'll grow them inside as well with my sprouted seeds.

[razz]

OK, now that the garden is put away to bed except for the leeks and remaining kohlrabi, I am looking more at the greens that I can grow indoors. I have found a source for the ones that you grow Herbgeek so will pick some up next week.
Are you back to growing them again or do you grow year-round?

[herbgeek]

I'm about to start back up next week. I use my outdoor garden for produce when I can but it's really dwindling now.