The lettuce and spinach I sowed on November 5th are doing very well. I waited until today to thin the plants so the non-winners in this evolutionary race could still make a small salad.
I have started a second batch that is beginning to sprout and hope that the staggering will keep me in fresh greens until spring when I can sow outdoors.I am also experimenting with a couple seeds of Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard. I am starting them in very small containers and will transplant into larger containers to grow indoors if they germinate well.My indoor growing space is at a premium right now and I am looking to expand what I can grow by doubling up on the growing shelves and lights with 2 deep on the wide shelves. At this rate I will probably need a second shelving unit before spring, but I am loving the results. This project is not a money saver right now. I have a long, long way to go before indoor gardening pays for itself, but I love being able to go downstairs and get some "just in time" basil, lettuce, rosemary, or oregano.
My Secret Garden
Maybe all new gardeners are as anxious as I am to get started. Maybe they all look at the approaching first frost date and say "I can outsmart nature". Maybe not. Either way, Patti Moreno made me do it.I have been watching a lot of the Patti Moreno, Garden Girl videos to learn about her version of Square Foot Gardening. In one episode she turns a sun room in her home into a nursery for her plant starts for spring with shelving and fluorescent fixtures and full spectrum grow lights. It was late October and I knew that I would want to get a head start on spring so I created a couple of grow shelves in my basement in front of a southern exposure window with the bulbs that Patti recommended and a timer. Besides, I still have those 3 basil plants that I purchased from the Farmer's Market this summer that I would like to keep going for as long as possible into the winter months as well as two rosemary varieties and an oregano.I waited one week.On November 5th I could wait no more (I already mentioned that Patti made me do it, right?). I knew that spinach and lettuce are cool weather plants and my basement stays just below 70 degrees. I had already received my order of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for my spring plantings and thought "why not see what happens?".I planted 3 varieties of heirloom lettuce and 2 varieties of heirloom spinach. The goal is to be able to cut off a couple of leaves of the still growing plants to enjoy some fresh greens between now and when the real plantings happen next growing season.
Less than 2 weeks later I have little lettuce and spinach starts in my secret garden. I hope that in another few weeks I will be able to begin harvesting leaves. I have another set of grow containers ready to go to get more started when I begin harvesting from this first run. I hope to continue this cycle until the Farmer's Markets reopen in May.