There are a few things I notice about the way I cook in the
summer versus the winter; the main thing is the number of salads, and fresh
veggies. Obvious I know, but I also noticed that a lot of these types of
veggies are fairly easy to grow indoors. So I have decided to try out a small
indoor winter garden.

Now I already have quite a few plants hanging around our
tiny apartment, so to start with I had to make space. The first to go were the
succulents and cactuses. I don’t get any real joy from these, and I’m not very
good at taking care of them. I know; cactuses. Whatever, we all have our
weaknesses.

I also combined a few things, did a few crafts and cleaned out some junk to make more space. 

Next I transitioned a few of my outdoor plants to the
indoors. Those included parsley, Swiss chard, a few chive and tarragon
seedlings. The tarragon didn’t make it, I think because they had already gotten too cold. I’ll try again next year.

I already had quite a few plants started through my re-propagation experiments, so those are still going, and will hopefully be
providing for us for a few more months.

I also started some bean seeds. I wanted to do more vegetables but there just isn’t space. Maybe our next place (hopefully before the spring growing season). Anyway the little bean seedlings are popping up now and I’m excited to see what comes of them! Hopefully we will get enough beans for a few dinners.

It’s baby steps to sustainability around here.

How are your indoor plants doing?

I have experimented with all kinds of re-propagation over
the last couple years. I even had a super successful celery plant that I re-grew
from a stalk; it lasted for 2 years before it got some kind of gross bug that I
couldn’t get off easily. I mean that thing seriously hooked itself to the
plant, and there were probably 30 of them, it was gross. I had to let it go for fear of my other nearby plants.

I’m starting to re-propagate some other plants this year in an
attempt to have fresh food through the winter. I am also going to try a winter
indoor garden, but that’s another post.

I should probably mention our pineapple plant. Chuck has
been trying to grow these since college, and his dad was able to get one to
root for us. We have had this thing for about 3 years. I have read that it
takes close to 5 in order to get them to bear fruit. So I’m not expecting much
from it any time soon.

For starters there were the scallions. I have had good luck
keeping these bad boys alive for month on end, and just sniping off the green
parts as needed, however no matter how many times I rinsed the roots, and
changed the water, after a few months they always ended up slimy and moldy.
This time around I decided to place them in a small pot after the roots grew a
little bit and viola! They have lasted mold free for nearly 6 months. No
complaints here.

I may try to do the same with some leeks and fennel this
winter. I would love to have those on hand fresh.

Basil is something I have had great success with. Pretty
much any basil cutting will grow roots in less than a week. It’s amazing how
fast they grow. Once they have roots you can place them in soil and they will
grow just like normal. I now have 10 basil plants that I started from just 2.

I have tried to grow ginger, but it can be a bit finicky
with our cold temperatures, so my plant only lasted about 9 months.

I have never had success growing garlic from grocery store
bough garlic; once the greens grow no more bulbs seem to form. I don’t know
whether there is a chemical they put on them that causes that or what; however I
have had success with bulbs from my mother’s garden.

I have had some success with lettuce re growth, but I never
made it to soil with the plants. Right now I have 2 sets of lettuce trying to
grow roots that I can hopefully put in soil in a few more days. I’ll be back to
let you know how that goes.


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