Susie from Westminster Reference library, borrowed this book and her life has not been the same since! Here’s Susie to show us how to grow salad greens at home:
As the title suggests, this book shows you how to grow salad indoors. The idea is that you grow just enough each day to give you a constant supply of salad greens.
The joy of this method is that anyone can do this, you don’t need a garden. In fact, you need very little space, just a cupboard and a windowsill. It requires no special lights or equipment and it doesn’t take much time. I fit it all around the routine of making my morning coffee and waiting for it to brew!
I borrowed this book from the library about a couple of years ago and enjoyed experimenting with various crops. However, last week I made the decision to cultivate in earnest with the goal of growing all my own salad greens. So if you are interested in seeing how it’s going, read on!
I‘m starting off growing pea shoots. I found these to be the tastiest and easiest to grow.
Soaking the seeds – This method is all about growing fast and I found that pre-soaking the peas overnight really speeds things up. I soaked 2 tbsp of dry peas, 1tbsp for each person to be fed.
They really swell up! You can see the difference in size between the soaked and the dried peas at the bottom of the photo.
Preparing the containers – I sow the peas in foil take-away food containers. They are roughly 5 inches by 4 inches with a depth of 2 inches. They have no drainage holes – which is good because with this method you don’t want them. I plant 2 containers every day, 1 for each person to be fed.
I add a few drops of fertiliser and a spoonful of compost to the bottom of the container before filling it up with a moist coconut growing medium. This comes as a dry brick which you put in a bucket with water until it expands – great fun to watch!
Sowing the seeds – Easy, I just arrange the peas fairly evenly over the surface. The container takes 1tsp of dried peas that have been soaked overnight. Next I cover them with one sheet of wet folded newspaper that has soaked in water for few minutes. That’s all, there is no compost covering the peas.
Do nothing for the next few days – My favourite part; the peas are left in a dark cupboard, or in my case, a kitchen draw. They need no watering. The moisture in the growing medium and the wet paper will be enough.
As the peas grow they start to lift the newspaper. After 4-6 days they should be roughly an inch tall and ready to see sunlight!
Stick ‘em out on the windowsill – from now on they will need watering (just a little) once a day.
My window is quite high and narrow so I have added shelves by hanging some old mesh trays. I should have enough space on mine to accommodate 20 containers.
This my first box of Pea shoots – after 11 days, 6 in the dark and 5 on the windowsill, they are looking quite optimistic.
The shoots are growing a bit slowly, probably because my kitchen is on the cool, draughty side and my window is North facing. I reckon they will need around 14 -20 days., but yours may need less if they are in a sunnier position.
Watch this space for updates.
If you fancy having a go at growing your own salad, I definitely recommend Peter Burke’s book Year-round indoor salad gardening : how to grow nutrient-dense, soil-sprouted greens in less than 10 days .
It’s a user-friendly book with lots of photographs and it really does tell you absolutely EVERYTHING you might want to know. For those who are interested in the science, the biological rationale for Peter’s method of rapid cultivation is all explained. For those who want to save money on their groceries, the savings are fully costed and for anyone who just wants to get on with it there is a reassuringly simple quick start guide.
Peter Burke talks you through his method of growing salad in this article: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/indoor-salad-garden-zm0z17djzsor
He also has a blog site where he gives useful updates and fields questions: https://dailygardener.blogspot.com
There is a podcast interview with him on the Urban Farm website: https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/01/05/peter-burke/
You can find more gardening books on our cloudLibrary site here and gardening magazines here. You just need your library membership number. If you don’t have one, don’t worry! Its free and easy to join, just click here.
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