Why I Brought My Gardening Indoors... Indoor Gardening Project - Part 5
With a very short growing seasons here in my zone 2 garden, I took the leap and set up my indoor gardening space. Also I find with all the extreme weather patterns and climate change that being able to grow food indoors will be a very valuable skill.
I'm so glad I set up my indoor garden when I did for we went from collecting rainwater and harvesting the last of the chard and kale to BOOM!
8" of snow and the temperature dropped to 18 degrees below Celsius.
Cold and Snowy Outside - Warm Glow Inside!
The indoor garden actually consists of plants that I had dug out of my garden and put them under the LED grow lights.
They did very well and provided us with fresh greens.
Read the series about the indoor garden project at:
With some of the plants getting past their prime I started a fresh crop of seedlings to rotate in.
I have lettuce, basil, arugula and some spinach started.
The spinach didn't germinate very good for it was older seed.
I have other older seed which I need to do a germination test on to see if they are any good before I plant them.
Also with the seed catalogs coming in,it's a good idea to check your old seeds to see if they are viable and to see if you need to buy more.
Germination Test
Material Needed:
Seed you want to test
Paper towel
Clear Plastic Bag (I use sandwich bags))
Warm water
Directions
Use two sheets of paper towel to make a double thickness. Moistened them with water.
Place a minimum of 10 seeds on just half of the sheets of paper towel.
Fold the other half of the paper towel over top of seeds covering the seeds completely.
Place paper towel with seeds into the plastic bag. Leave some air to get in for healthy germination.
Place bag in a warm spot (on top of the fridge is a good spot).
Watch that paper towel does not dry out. Check daily.
Every few days check the seeds to see if they germinated.
If you have low germination rate you may want to buy new seeds or else you could sow your seeds extra thick.
My next project to add to our fresh greens is some sprouts.
Seed Sprouting
You can sprout alfalfa, broccoli, radish, onions, beans, peas, lentils and more.
Material needed:
• 1 quart wide mouth canning jar
• some screening or folded cheese cloth large enough to cover the opening with about an inch overhang. Elastic band to hold the screening on.
• 1 canning lid for storage
• 2 - 3 T. of sprouting seeds
Method:
- Place seeds in jar, attach your screening. Fill jar with cool water covering the seeds. Let it sit for at least 6 hours or over night
- Drain out water and rinse seeds well. Drain once more and lay the jar on its side where you will be growing them.
- Repeat step 2 a few times a day until the seeds have sprouted and grown to the size you want. About 3 -5 days.
- Once the seeds have sprouted put the jar where indirect sunlight can get at them to green them up.
- Once sprouts are grown to your liking stop rinsing them and let them dry out a bit before you put a cap on and store them in the fridge.
Sprouting Sunflower Seeds
For sunflower seeds I germinate them in some peat moss or sometimes old potting soil.
I cover the bottom of a plastic tub or I have aluminum baking sheets, with about 1/2 inch of the peat moss or soil.
I scatter a layer of sunflower seeds, sown thickly, then I top that off with another layer of peat moss.
I water it down so it is well dampened but not so water would be dripping out of it.
Put on a lid or covering of some sort and put them in a warm place, checking every few days to see if they have germinated.
Watch that they are kept moist but do not over water for there is no drainage holes in the tubs.
Once they've started germinating put them into some sunlight.
When they've popped their seed coats off you can harvest them by cutting with scissors.
Image source: First two are taken with my Canon Powershot A495
Sprout photos from Pixabay.com
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Hey, moving inside was probably a great idea. I bet it's hard to grow plants with all that white stuff out there.
I'm very happy I moved the gardening inside. Funny thing is that just the day before all the snow fell I was out collecting rainwater and picking the last of the Swiss chard and kale outside. Now I'm picking it inside only!
Hah! Very good. We're just about to plant some of our greens today. It was supposed to have frozen last night, but snow isn't a concern here. Two weeks early for our first freeze of the season, it's been a cold wet fall so far. Hoping our hardy varieties enjoy it :)
What zone are you in? Can you garden outside year round? Sure would be easier than hauling everything indoors, but I fear with all these extreme weather patterns and climate change it may become more difficult to be getting a good crop outdoors. What crops do you grow in the winter?
I've never grown in the winter before. Matter of fact, this was our first spring/summer growing too! Complete newbies, but I bought a bunch of cold hardy greens and broccoli and cauliflower that I'm gonna try out and see what happens.
What zone are you gardening in? We use a row cover that is good to -5 degrees Celsius on our broccoli and cabbage plants when we put them out in the spring plus I leave it on all summer on the cabbage to keep the cabbage butterflies off it. I prefer the cover that is good to -2 degrees for that for the other -5 one tends to block more of the light and we have very limited direct sunlight growing here in the forest.
Zone 8A in North Central Texas. Average extreme low is 10-15°f
Oh! So you have a very long growing season. That row cover (lets the sunlight in and the rain inbut bugs and frost out)would be good for your cabbage and broccoli seedlings to keep the cabbage butterflies off for growing this time of year when the weather is cooler. Good luck on your first try at winter gardening!
This is a much better method than the one I used to sprout sunflower seeds, I will be trying it out! Mine molded before they were ever big enough to eat. We do lots of sprouting of mung bean, chia and alfalfa but your right, the jar method doesn't work so well for sunflower!
Love your indoor garden. I'm sure in the middle of winter you'll be loving some fresh greens! 😊
Xx ToL
our sprouts!
That is a real simple way to sprout sunflower seeds. Just watch that you don't over water them. One person had recommended that you place a damp paper towel over the top layer of peat moss to help keep it moist until the seeds sprout.
How did you grow your chia seed sprouts? They are so mucilaginous!
That's a good tip, thanks! If I remember correctly, I used a sprouting tray rather than a jar. You can also grow them on a chia pet (for reals lol) it really does work, and they are good sprouts for eating, right off your cute chia pet 😂
Yes, I remeber those chia pets. I have a clay sculpture that a friend had made, with a rough textured dress. I could probably grow the chia seeds on that or look online for a chia pet!
Yah now we're putting our heads together!! 😍
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Really cool post the food look delicious. I really like the first photo with the snow in the back ground. :)
It's been wonderful to be able to pick fresh greens when everything in the outside gardens are covered with snow.
See more pictures of our winter wonderland at: https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@porters/look-what-i-woke-up-to-a-winter-wonderland
Yay! Makes me wanna try again using my green beans!