Year Round Indoor Salad Gardening by Peter Burke

[mogal]

Due to the pandemic, our local library has closed indefinitely and any books checked out won't be due until it reopens.  As luck would have it, I have in my possession the book I named in the subject line.  

This guy has a fairly novel idea of hitting somewhere between sprouts and microgreens. He calls them soil sprouted because he plants pre-soaked seed in small containers (usually the small foil baking pans) of potting mix, covers them with a soaking wet folded to fit sheet of news paper.  He incubates them 4-5 days in a warm dark area until the sprouts push off the cover.  At that point he allows them to grow a bit more before he moves them to a lighted area to turn green.  They are usually read to eat in 10 days.  He grows green peas, radishes, broccoli, turnips, sunflower seeds, etc.  When they are green, he cuts them about 1/2" above soil level and eats them.  Now this is a major oversimplification of the book but you get the gist.  If your library is still available to you, this might be a good way to provide your family with fresh salad fixin's when you can't get into your outdoor garden.

If anybody has a specific question, I'd be happy to look it up for you since for all intents and purposes the book is mine for the immediate future. 

I have some seeds soaked and found some repurposed foil pans in the back of my cupboard so guess what I'm going to go do?  

[feather]

Guess what you are doing? You are probably going to soak some seeds.
I hope it is fun.
1. Do you wet down the potting soil first before you put them on it? To me it would make sense, I'm just a little worried I'll possibly over wet it.
2. You cut them off 1/2 inch from the soil, then is there anything about washing them? Soak them in water, or rinse them?

[mogal]

I already had the seeds soaked before I made this post.

You moisten the soil first so it's about like a wrung out sponge. When you water, it's by tablespoons but if you overwater, you can actually--according to a picture--take the root filled soil mass out of the container and squeeze out extra moisture.

Since he recommends watering only the soil, not the whole plant, there isn't a lot of washing, just a quick rinse. Some of the seeds he recommends, particularly sunflower and buckwheat, have hulls that occasionally need to be washed away if they haven't fallen away completely.

I should have been more specific. These greens are only allowed to grow to the point that the seed leaf, the cotyledon, is fully expanded. You don't let them grow even tiny true leaves. This is why he calls them soil sprouts since they are a middle ground in their development between jar grown sprouts and microgreens.

[feather]

I started soaking some mustard seeds (which can be bought at grocery stores), and some broccoli from amazon.
Either I plant in some of our extra milk carton jugs, or find a different few containers.

[midtnmama]

feather, When I run out of plastic jugs for winter sowing, I start using recycled zip lock bags. Snip the bottom corners for drainage. Keep them slightly open for air circulation (and a few jabs for that as well). When the temps are in the 70s I open them all the way.

[Deleted]

We sprout year around at the off grid cabin. Love those little sprouts on sandwiches, in salads and in egg dishes. You can also let them go and pick leaves as greens, or transplant and grow. I get seed from the free produce giveaway. They donate 20 cases of seed every year. Over time I probably take a case because not a lot of people take them. Some flower seeds are great for sprouting too. I use to sprout in the bathroom greenhouse window but we took that all out. This winter I was doing it in the greenhouse....James

[feather]

midtnmama, these are going to be sprouted in the house, more likely to be eaten young than to be sown outside. There has to be some more trays in basement storage that may have more surface area.
Good idea on the recycled zip bags, for more winter sown.

@jwal10, that's great that you do that with sprouts. I'm hoping to replace at least some of the greens in salads so we can cut our dependence more from the grocery store from now until the garden starts to produce lettuces/kale.

[feather]

I put the seeds on the moist soil in a big tray. I covered it with Aldi's ad papers. If they are edible in just 10 days, I'll have to do more soon, to keep up with what we'll need. Sprouts and very young plants are full of anti-oxidants compared to full sized leaves. I might be able to get away with a little less volume of sprouts than full size leaves. (I haven't figured it out but maybe 1 tray every 3 days?)

[feather]

I looked and they are sprouting out!

I decided to do more trays but the Mister isn't keen on this whole idea. I'm still looking for suitable containers. I've some soybeans from last summer I could sprout and I thought pumpkin seeds would also be a tasty treat.

I also decided to test out any of my seed 'hoard', that I keep from vegetables/herbs in our gardens because some were getting older and I don't know if they'll germinate. First while cleaning !! I found 3 empty cookie tins so I washed and dried those to store seeds.

I put a napkin (the napkins are more than 2 years old since we usually don't use them) folded in 4, into a cheap sandwich bag, wet it down, drain it off, dropped seeds on it, then folded the plastic bag into 4, put that on top the seed packet so I would know which one's germinate and which ones don't. Then, I'll know if it worth putting in the garden or keeping for next year, or throwing away. I did 31 of them. The seeds will be filed in the cookie tins once I know.

[Deleted]

I am sure some will sprout, don't throw out if any sprout. Just use up in order of date. I decided to go ahead and plant every thing I could here at the cottage. Since we won't be out and about in the RV, we will shuttle back and forth between here and the cabin. Might as well grow all we can. I made another circle of the yard and beds, found more for lunch. Lot of salad based meals, fish on a bed of greens. Potato salad with chives and wild onions, bean salad same with other herbs. Nothing tastes more like spring than fresh herbs and edibles. Lots of little 4" asparagus. My mushroom logs are looking promising, lots of small mushrooms. Mint is starting to grow, pansies are blooming....James

[feather]

@jwal10, I love hearing your foraging and eating style of lifestyle, sounds like some kind of nirvana.

I saved thousands of seeds when I saved them. It would take me 30 or 40 years to go through my 2016 roma and san marzano seeds by myself. I expect others might want some too.

I braved the basement today and found enough double trays to do more sprouting salad growing. 3 sets in total. I started soaking mung beans to plant tomorrow. Mr Feather is not really accepting this, but it is reality, not unlike he really isn't accepting the state of WI having a 'stay at home' order. Ch-ch-changes..everywhere.

[feather]

I had soaked mung beans for my second tray of salad greens. Planted those today.

This is the first tray with mustard and broccoli, about 1/4 inch tall under the aldi's ad.


They might be ready in a week, I would guess.

These are the 4 sets of germination tests for seeds.

[midtnmama]

Mar 24, 2020 20:07:47 GMT feather said:

I had soaked mung beans for my second tray of salad greens. Planted those today.

This is the first tray with mustard and broccoli, about 1/4 inch tall under the aldi's ad.


They might be ready in a week, I would guess.

These are the 4 sets of germination tests for seeds.

I bow down to this organization and productivity!

[feather]

Mar 25, 2020 14:51:29 GMT midtnmama said:

I bow down to this organization and productivity!

Ha ha ha. I just saw this.

Thank you so much.

My first tray of sprouts to eat are about 1 and 1/2 inches tall. I'll take pictures when it is sunny tomorrow I hope. I hope the mung beans also start to sprout by tomorrow.

This is actually more like me.

[mogal]

Mar 25, 2020 14:51:29 GMT midtnmama said:

Mar 24, 2020 20:07:47 GMT feather said:

I bow down to this organization and productivity!

Yep, our Feather has taken the bit in her teeth and run with it.  Good job.

You are doing better than I am and I'm the one who started the thread.

[feather]

When you share ideas and information, you just never know who you will inspire to learn and try new things.

mogal, how is your first seed sprouts going?

[feather]

Tray 3-the pepitas are being soaked, they are 'oil seed pumpkin seeds' without the thick hull, so good to eat and good to sprout.

Tray 2-the mung beans are growing! They haven't pushed off the paper on top of them, that will be a few days.

Tray 1-I put them in the south window of the family room, to green up for a few days.

Dr Rhonda Patrick says:

Boosting Phytochemicals Naturally

Phytochemical increases with sprouting are consistently noted among a variety of plants. Young broccoli sprouts were found to contain up to 50 times more glucoraphanin ( a precursor of sulforaphane ) than mature broccoli. Research has demonstrated that sulforaphane has impressive antimicrobial effects as well. In one study 7 out of 9 patients who consumed broccoli sprouts eradicated Helicobacter pylori infection within 7 days. H Pylori is a major global health problem associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and stomach cancer. After 35 days, six out of seven patients were still clear of H Pylori.
Fenugreek seeds, which are low in phenolic compounds and have poor antioxidant activity, are transformed when sprouted. Phenolic, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties escalate, with the greatest increases seen during the first few days of sprouting.

This is what tray 1 looks like, with mustard on the left and broccoli/alfalfa/radish on the right. The biggest leaves on the right are probably broccoli, and I don't know if I'll use much of the alfalfa because there are issues with it.

It looks like salad in the few days.

[feather]

Tray 3 is supposed to be pumpkin but after soaking for 24 hours, they aren't visibly sprouting so not planted in the tray yet.
Tray 2 is spouted mung beans but not pushing up the paper on top yet.
Tray 1 is at 3 inches and probably ready to eat on the 3/30, 10 days after soaking/planting. Yay, salad lovers.

Germination of seed hoard on day 4 today:
cucumber kirby '18 (year they were saved)
bought beet seeds
lettuce butter head
3 out of 31 so far, these were removed from the trays and filed in the metal tins. Made a note of this in the gardening journal I was encouraged to keep by (well you know who you are).

[feather]

Tray 1 is 4 inches high just the original leaves, ready to eat when I make salads tomorrow.
Tray 2 mung beans, very slow to reach up.
Tray 3 pumpkin seeds, planted, no sprouting visible.

Germination tests day 6
Cucumber kirby type '19 another
Butter crunch lettuce '16
Tomato Redorta '16
Carrot Danvers half long
Light green lettuce '16
9/31 tests
(lima beans are molding)

[mogal]

Mar 26, 2020 13:28:34 GMT feather said:

When you share ideas and information, you just never know who you will inspire to learn and try new things.

mogal , how is your first seed sprouts going?

I did a tray of peas and one of broccoli with good results.  Since I still have plenty of claytonia and other salad fixin's in the hoop house, I'll save the soil sprouts for the time they are gone.

[mogal]

Mar 26, 2020 13:28:34 GMT feather said:

oops.  I tried to delete this.  Don't know why it posted twice.

[feather]

So this was me harvesting some of the mustard. I figured mr feather would like it.


The sprouts I cut were in the strainer in the sink on the left.

I put them in a big bowl, two salads worth.


Then tossed it and put it in two big bowls.


He only ate half the salad, he said it was too HOT. So we talked about how garlic is hot when it is first crushed or cut, and so is onion, and mustard sprouts and broccoli sprouts are also activated with a chemical reaction upon cutting. This reaction finishes and the taste mellows in the next day. So he saved half for today. He said that it was much better and milder, so this is great because I can grow the mustard easily and it's a fast grower too. I just need to cut them the day before he eats them.

It's all good, the anti oxidants are more active in sprouts than in the full grown article, so I'm happy we can eat these and enjoy them, one way or another.

We bought 2 3 packs of romaine. The first one started to go bad really fast. I had read snoozy, 's article on her blog, about washing then drying the lettuce, then storing it with paper towels. I don't have paper towels but a damp tea towel seems to do the trick too. If you are trying to extend the life of your lettuces, you might want to see her article. alia.link/2019/12/16/make-lettuce-immortal-again/

[midtnmama]

What he tastes as 'hot" may be the bitter of the mustard. I have grown to love mustard and turnip greens in salad because they are an incredibly cheap alternative to what they put in gourmet salad mixes to give it a "bite". Remind him that the bitter taste is the calcium. That will build our bones and it is more easily processed by the body than calcium from dairy.

[feather]

midtnmama, that kind of thinking works with me. It doesn't work with mr feather. With him, if it doesn't taste good, it doesn't taste good, and he will not force himself to eat food that doesn't taste good.

Like with pesto made with garlic and lemon and parsley and basil, the hot flavor from the garlic tastes good to me. He can't stand it, until it sits for a day or two then he can eat it because the hotness dissipates.

Since plants for the most part have no visible defense against animals or bugs eating them, they developed a way for defending themselves by creating substances that are hot (like garlic and onions), so a deer for instance will take a bite but be turned off enough to walk away. The lettuce family will almost always become bitter later in the season when the bugs are eating at them and the temperatures are higher, which is why we have early tender greens, and later, tougher bitter greens. When I grew collards they were bitter in the fall, the bugs eating them, then the colder temperatures started almost to frost, the bugs died away, the collards became much sweeter again and less bitter.

[midtnmama]

feather, Have you tried garlic chives instead? They are milder, a taste that is a cross between onions and garlic. I love them and am putting them EVERYWHERE.

[feather]

Apr 1, 2020 18:14:16 GMT midtnmama said:

feather , Have you tried garlic chives instead? They are milder, a taste that is a cross between onions and garlic. I love them and am putting them EVERYWHERE.

I haven't but good idea. I have garlic scape dilly pickled. I have dehydrated and ground garlic scapes, which taste of mild garlic and a grassiness which is pleasant. I have chives, they come back every year, but not the garlic ones. Thanks!

[feather]

my tray 3 pumpkin seeds are not sprouting, oh I'm SO disappointed, they were expensive specifically for sprouting too.

Tray 2 the mung beans.


Germination test

Day 7, tri color bell peppers
Day 9
San Marzano 14/15 (year)
San Marzano 16
Bell peppers 19

[feather]

Germination test continued:
day 10 Green bell peppers '18
day 13 threw away no germination peppers
day 13 paquebot roma '16 at 50/50 rate
day 13 hatch peppers original 50/50 rate
day 30 green basil 1 in 5 rate (herbs take a long time to germinate)
Testing is over.
I can't seem to save seeds for squash and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I threw away all the seeds that didn't give any germination.

I've eaten the mung bean sprouts, steamed. They were good but took a long time. The fastest growing sprouts to grow in soil are the mustard seeds (seeds I originally bought for making actual mustard). The broccoli sprouts grow slower.

In terms of speed from seed to full leaf, the ones that take the longest are collards, then in half the season, the kale, but in just a few weeks, the mustard. So if you are in a hurry, plant mustard for sprouts or full leaves.

We're not going to even plant collards this year, it takes a full season while the kale and mustard will just produce and produce. We don't have any purslane yet, I know in the south these are already growing but Wisconsin is cold. We opened up the cold frame lettuce garden and some of the kale is almost ready to pick, the mustard we planted last week is growing great and the parsley is off running like a race horse.