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Cool weather crops, planted in growing containers, can be moved to protected locations when winter’s worst arrives, ready to be moved back outside when temperatures moderate.

Cool weather crops, planted in growing containers, can be moved to protected locations when winter’s worst arrives, ready to be moved back outside when temperatures moderate.

Last year at this time, it reached 70 degrees and my winter garden was bountifully producing salad greens, onions, garlic, carrots, sugar peas, kale, collards and Swiss chard. But not this year.

The subzero temperatures have brought most of the garden to an end for now. Fortunately I moved several containers of greens into the greenhouse before the Arctic weather arrived. So at least I have fresh pot green’s available to me until spring, and various vegetables I froze, dried or canned earlier in the season.

Had I been more prepared I would have an assortment of vegetables growing in the greenhouse. Several cool weather crops make good candidates in unheated winter greenhouses, like turnips and other root crops, onion, garlic, radishes, peas, leeks, carrot, kale, cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts, to name a few.

Next winter I will do better because I am fully committed to winter gardening.

While I get joy from raising fresh organic produce with my own hands in the winter, I have discovered winter gardeners are a hearty few. So most of this column will be devoted to what fair weather gardeners and nongardeners can grow indoors that will contribute to their health and well being.

First, remember plants add oxygen to the air and pull carbon dioxide out. Some will scrub pollutants from our indoor air. Thus we benefit from the presence of plants in our homes before we eat them for their nutritional value.

Many of the mental health benefits of outdoor gardening transfer to growing indoors. Being responsible for plants helps us connect to the natural world. It helps us develop a growth mindset that realizes learning can be constant. It helps us to practice acceptance and moves us away from perfectionism. This all in turn helps reduce the stress levels in our lives that can contribute to dis-ease.

There are four levels of growing indoors that are easy for most, but let’s start with the most difficult, full size plants. Most years, I have several tomato and pepper plants in my greenhouse. They do not produce as much there as I would like but when the weather warms they will be productive sooner than others. You can do this with a relatively small lean-to greenhouse against your home, or a window box. Other produce can be grown in these also.

A more doable and less expensive approach is the kitchen windowsill of herbs. Kits are available online for less than thirty dollars. Make sure you only get the herbs you are going to use. To keep these plants from overwhelming their space, pick and use regularly. Choices that do well on windowsills include: mint, rosemary, basil, cilantro, oregano, chives, parsley and thyme.

My friend, mentor and fellow organic gardener, Lalla Ostergren had extra wide window sills installed on all her south facing windows because she grew more than herbs indoors, including baby greens.

Now that my outdoor lettuce has froze, I’m going to start some lettuce seed on a windowsill indoors. Typically you can expect eatable baby leaves in as little as two to three weeks. I will go a bit longer with the lettuce since it is primarily intended to go on sandwiches and in wraps.

Since baby greens are more tender and automatically bite-size, they go well in salads. As with full grown plants, supplemental lighting in the winter maximizes growth. Some good choices are spinach, kale, arugula, romaine, garden cress, Swiss chard, endive, radicchio, and a whole host of oriental greens. Pick the lower leaves and let the growing tip produce more. I dig carrots and Jerusalem artichokes from the garden, thin slice and add for a delicious and nutritious salad.

Next on our list for the indoor garden are microgreens, which can be ready to eat in as little as seven to ten days. Kits are available online for under twenty dollars, but depending on what seed is used and equipment, they can cost much more. Common choices include: amaranth, sunflower, wheatgrass, mustard, radish, basil, cress, cilantro, beet, cabbage, mizuna, pac choi and broccoli, to name a few.

I have always used potting soil as my growing medium, but other choices are available, including hydroponics. I place about an inch of potting soil in containers, sprinkle the seeds and cover with a thin layer of more soil. Moisture and warmth are needed for the seeds to sprout. Check daily and mist if soil appears dry until they sprout(3-8 days). At least four hours of sunlight is needed. If they start to look pale and spindly, they are not getting enough light. Artificial light can help.

Harvest after the first true leaves form. Most snip them off at the soil line, but Lalla would wash the soil off the roots and eat those too. Some seeds will regrow, like peas, if you snip above the “seed leaves”, or cotyledons. Microgreens go well on sandwiches, in salads and stir fry.

A mistake I made early on was planting different seeds in the same grow tray. If one germinates in three days and the other in eight days, they won’t be ready to harvest at the same time, which makes it difficult. Now I plant one kind of seed per grow container.

The last item on the indoor garden list is sprouts, which can be ready to eat in as little as two to four days. Lalla used glass canning jars with different lids for different size seed. Sprouting containers are also available for under fifteen dollars and up, and include instructions.

With the jar method, fill with enough cool water to cover the seeds, drain and repeat several more times to rinse the seeds. Refill the jar halfway with cool water and let soak for eight to twelve hours at room temperature in a dark location. Then drain the seeds and rinse them thoroughly several times, twice a day until sprouted. When the jar is about half full with sprouted seed, put them in a sunny window to green up. I use a salad spinner for my final rinse and then store them in the refrigerator. This yields a lot of sprouts. Toss them into stews, soups or stir fries near the end of cooking. Some like them oven roasted until crisp and brown but I suspect that reduces their nutritional value.

Seeds popular for sprouting, in addition to those mentioned for microgreens, include alfalfa, celery, chia, clover, fenugreek, red clover, mung bean, onion, pumpkin and sesame. Prices on different kinds of seeds can vary greatly.

A word of warning, the moist, warm conditions required to grow sprouts are ideal for the rapid growth of bacteria. Steaming or boiling until tender solves any potential problem.

So now we have a complete list of gardening indoors. Much of this is less labor intensive than an outdoor garden, so you will have plenty of time to plan for spring. Get some graph paper and start a map of your garden. Draw in what you want and where. Do not plan a garden you won’t have the time and energy for. Be realistic.

Next time we will look at factors that go into planning a new garden or improving an existing garden. Also we will take a look at what seeds can be started and when, in anticipation of planting out in early spring. In the meantime give serious consideration to the joys and benefits of gardening indoors.

Hope to see you in the garden next month.

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