Tuesday 30 December 2008

Indoor greens

Not deterred by my rather dismal attempt at growing indoor greens before, (sunflower greens about a year ago if I remember rightly), I planted some chard and rocket seeds in the kitchen last week. The tiny shoots are starting to show and we're all keeping an eye on them.
We still have chard and rocket in the garden and it's still growing, but it grows very slowly in winter and we've also found the leaves are really tough, even when small.

I'm so pleased that the children will eat these greens that I feel I must do my best to grow them. They don't eat many other leaves. Here's hoping the indoor chard and rocket will be more successful than the sunflower greens.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Claire silly question but exactly how do you grow them?

Claire said...

No, not a 'silly' question :-)

I've just filled a decent sized pot with compost and planted the seeds in there for the chard and rocket. I want them to root and grow into 'proper' plants.

However, some people talk about growing indoor greens and they mean a kind of cross between a 'proper' plant and sprouted seeds.

They do this usually by sprinkling fast growing seeds, like sunflower seeds, on a bed of compost or thick layers of kitchen roll which they keep very moist. These (there will be others not just sunflower suitable for this) will produce leaves much bigger than sprouting seed but not as big as a proper plant. They can get to about 5cm long or so within a couple of weeks at which time you use them in salad, juice or whatever. You can't leave them at that point or they'll just die - particularly if they're just on damp kitchen roll. Be sure to use eating seeds not ones from the garden centre if you ever try it.

stefndawniy said...

mmm brain ticking now - fiona grows stuff indoors too - must have a go at this :-)

stefndawniy said...

hey and beans prouts grow well in a big jar with muslin(or tights) over the top , wet and drain each day and leave them on the draining board. - oops hope you don't mind me joining in :)

Claire said...

Of course I don't mind Dawny