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What does it take to grow a substantial amount of greens in the winter in a backyard garden space or indoors along a sink or windowsill? Well, what a perfect winter to find out! This year I launched a Winter Greens Challenge in the Community at to see just how much I/we could grow.
By focusing on three simple techniques (2 indoors and 1 outdoor), I hope to try and grow a substantial amount of greens in eight weeks... like 30-50 pounds from my small space... and as much as 100 pounds collectively in the community.
Eh-hem, you might say, aren't you only one week into this 8-week challenge...
Well, yes...
And aren't you ALWAYS full of confidence and enthusiasm and bravado right at the beginning?
Well, yes, you could say that, but...
And aren't greens notoriously light and fluffy?!?
Okay, okay. I sense your skepticism. But that is why it's a challenge!
Doing a challenge like this is a forcing function for creativity. It is a way to dive in deep for a period of time and to find a daily rhythm or habits that work for me in the longterm. In just a few minutes a day (the time it take to boil water for coffee), I can soak and prep several planting trays or jars of sprouts. If I have everything in one place, it makes it easy to get out my winter greens supplies and just GROW in a few minutes a day! I keep everything tucked in a box on a shelf under the counter in the kitchen so I can easily pull it out as I wait for water to boil. In doing this challenge I am trying to hone my green-growing skills and see just how much I can grow if I really tried.
Plus, I have friends that I could always gift pounds of greens to if I happen to grow WAY MORE than I can possibly even eat. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...
So how to grow tons of greens in winter? Let me share the three techniques I am using.
Soil-Sprouted Shoots:
The first technique is one is inspired from Peter Burke (in Vermont) and the book he wrote about it called “Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nutrient-Dense Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 Days.” The first time I learned of this technique I was amazed at just how productive it was. He uses this technique to start 5 mini trays of soil-sprouted shoots a day and grow approximately 4 lbs a week, enough for a salad-enthusiastic family of four. His strategy is simple, requires just a few minutes a day, and can make it easy to grow a surprising amount of nutrient-dense greens per week! Plus, it takes up fairly little space and you don't even need a windowsill in full sun to get loads of beautiful greens!
2. Sprouts:
The next technique is another indoor technique that is surprisingly simple: all it takes is first soaking and then repeatedly rinsing seeds (2-3 times a day) to grow fantastically nutritious sprouts of so many different kinds of seeds. Everything from mung beans to broccoli to quinoa to fenugreek to alfalfa to radish to pumpkin. Simple, easy, and something you can set up by your sink. This quote from Dr Clive McKay, a nutrition professor at Cornell University, says it all:
“Wanted! A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in vitamin C, will be waste free in preparation, and can be cooked with little fuel and as quickly as a… chop!”
3. DIY Backyard Hoophouse:
This fun do-it-yourself technique will, I admit, strongly depend on the weather over the next 8 weeks to be able to produce a substantial yield. However, if you happen to have a warm day here or there (or an entire winter of warm days as the east coast seems to be having this season...so far!) you can easily pop up a simple structure with accessible, easy-to-find materials to grow hardy greens outdoors. It's a way to nimbly lean into and grow during unpredictable warm spells. You can even pre-start seeds indoors using the first soil-sprouted shoot technique and expand your growing space outdoors by several square feet (as opposed to the incredibly productive square inches you were using inside...!). By growing hardy seeds, having passive protection from wind and snow, and taking advantage of late winter or early spring warmth and light in a yard that might otherwise be shaded by trees, you can grow nutrient-dense greens outside to supplement your equally thriving indoor set-up!
My current set-up involves: 3/4" PVC pipes (you can use and bend metal ones if you choose), rubber bands, twistie ties, a bamboo stick, a painter's plastic sheet tarp from the hardware store, a thin cloth sheet (for extra insulation should it get VERY cold... ), and 3/4 of an inch 'snap clamps' (these cool clip-on hard plastic pieces that hold my plastic tarp onto my frame).
Gaining the skills to grow delicious, flavor-packed greens (or other crops!) rapidly even in difficult conditions (i.e. WINTER!) is a way to become a more nimble and resilient gardener. Focusing intensively on the goal of abundance also allows us to settle into rhythms that truly work for us. Finding patterns to make sustainable food production for ourselves possible. Plus it's just plain fun to see just how many greens you can grow. Not to mention a chance to find more AWESOME ways to eat more nutrient-packed greens every day!
Plus, we probably all could use more awesome greens in our diets in winter!
Let's grow some GREENS!
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