Salad Days

Chris Smith, the community coordinator of Sow True Seed — an Asheville-based company that specializes in open-pollinated, heirloom, and organic seeds — answers gardening questions in each issue of Smoky Mountain Living.

What can I grow indoors during the winter?

Eliot Coleman, author of The Winter Harvest Handbook, coined the term “Persephone months,” based on the Greek myth of Persephone. It’s a wonderful way to explain the winter period when daylight drops to less than 10 hours a day. At this point, plant growth slows to insignificance. Supplemental heat is not enough. You will also need full-spectrum grow lights. Check your local garden center for options.

So, one answer to the question would be: With enough heat and light, you can grow anything you want. However, I would urge some respect for the cycles of nature. Savor digging the soil as the ground thaws in spring and the first seeds are sown, allow yourself the anticipation of vine-ripened tomatoes in mid-summer, and enjoy the rambunctious wanderings of vining squash throughout your garden. Remember that good planning and a bit of green-thumbed luck can give you shelves of canned vegetables, baskets of root crops, fermented and pickled delights, winter squash, frozen corn, and a whole host of “stored summer” energy to eat.

However, I do understand the desire to grow things in the depths of winter. There is a psychological component to this, as well as the nourishment of fresh food. Once we enter the dark days of winter, I turn my attention to sprouts, microgreens, and salad bowls.

Sprouts are low-tech, low-energy, and high-nutrition. A mason jar and some screen will get you started, allowing you to soak and strain the seeds twice a day. You can sprout buckwheat, sunflowers, wheatgrass, radish, mustard, broccoli, peas, lentils, and a whole host of different-flavored seeds. You also don’t need the additional light, although you’ll get fatter, greener sprouts if you have it.

Microgreens are the next step from sprouts. By offering the seeds a small amount of growing medium, they develop a root network, and the sprouts grow bigger and leaf out. The growing medium can be soil, or any number of special-purpose products. Microgreens really benefit from supplemental light; without it you’ll experience scraggly and weak seedlings reaching out for the sun that isn’t there. 

Salad bowls are my favorite. It tickles my British humor to use the plastic boxes in which you buy salad mixes from the supermarket as my growing container, making sure to puncture some holes in the bottom for drainage. I use a mix of potting soil and vermicompost (worm poop for super growth—no joke). Once the greens get to around four to six inches, I chop them with scissors about one inch above the soil. The greens will re-grow, which is why I call them cut-and-come-again greens. Sow True Seed has an herb salad mix, which is perfect for this. You’ll certainly need additional lights for growing healthy winter salads.

Is there anything I can do to get ready for spring, even when the ground is frozen and the days are short?

January is named after the Roman god, Janus, who is often depicted with two heads—one looking back and the other forward. So it is with garden planning. The seasonal cycle of gardening always allows next year for trying again, but we also need to remember and learn from the past. Pay attention and take notes. If you did this last year, now is the time to read over your past observations and learn.

This is winter: a wood stove, a comfy chair, a cup of hot chocolate (whiskey optional), and a stack of seed catalogs. Flip through once in dream phase, highlighting everything your heart desires. Then go through again with an element of realism. How big is your garden? Remember: There is never enough space.

Make sure you plant your reliable favorites, but I encourage you to always try something new. Check your old seed packets; most seeds will last many years if stored dark, cool, and dry. If you’re worried, you can take 10-20 seeds and try sprouting them on a damp paper towel to get a rough germination rate.

Once you have a semi-realistic idea of what you want to plant, you should sketch a garden plan. This can be as rough or as pretty as you like, but the aim is to get closer to reality with each step. This is when you realize your 10 heirloom tomato varieties just won't fit. You’ll sacrifice, trade, and barter with yourself and soon be making hard decisions and finding out what is truly important. Get creative, remember you have containers, hanging baskets, potato towers, and that yet-to-be-used patch of dirt. You’ll always over-plant, but that’s OK too.

Email your gardening questions to ask@sowtrue.com. Sign up for a free catalog and planting guide at sowtrueseed.com.