Contents H Introduction
vii • PART I •
Fresh Greens All Year: The Incredible, Edible Indoor Salad 1 Fresh Greens in 7 Days: An Introduction
1
2 Genesis of the Method
5
3 The Nature of Soil Sprouts Is Counterintuitive
15
4 Ten Good Reasons to Sprout in Soil versus by Traditional Methods 21 5 The Difference between Soil Sprouts and Microgreens
29
6 Becoming a Daily Gardener
35
7 Tools and Accessories
41 • PART II •
How to Grow Soil Sprouts Get Ready Guide
48
Quick Start Guide
49
8 Seeds
51
9 Soil versus a Soil-Less Growing Medium
57
10 Trays and Planters
65
11 Fertilizer
69
12 Planting, Growing, and Greening
73
13 Harvest and Storage
97
14 Soil Sprouts by the Numbers
103
• PART III •
Seed Reference and Soil Sprout Recipes 15 Seed by Seed
115
16 Recipes
149
17 A Final Word about Farming
163
Acknowledgments
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FAQ and Troubleshooting
177
Sources
181
Index
183
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Seeds
Radish seeds pictured here next to their dry seed pods are very easy to grow, harvest, and store. Filling a few gallon jars with seeds for winter greens is akin to having a cold cellar full of garden produce or a woodshed full of firewood; it is a small insurance policy and a good way to keep food costs manageable.
I’ll continue discussing seed measures in this way throughout the pages to come. In chapter 15 individual seeds are listed with amounts given. Check these listings for more detailed planting information on specific seeds.
Your Seed Supply As a rule of thumb 3 to 6 gallons (11.4–22.8 L) of each variety of large seed (like sunflower, pea, radish, and buckwheat) and 1 to 2 gallons (3.8–7.6 L) of each of the small seeds (like broccoli, purple kohlrabi, and canola) constitutes a year’s supply if you intend to plant a small tray of each variety every day, with a few large trays for special occasions. Having buckets of seed in the closet is like storing cordwood in the shed, food in the freezer, and rice in the pantry; it’s a small insurance policy and a good way to keep food costs manageable. If you keep an outdoor garden, it’s possible to grow plants there specifically to harvest seeds for shoots, and it’s not difficult. Or should I say some of the seeds are easy to grow.
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How to Grow Soil Sprouts
After 4 days of warm darkness the sprouts are ready for light and greening the young shoots. In about 3 to 6 more days they’re ready to harvest. During a discussion on incubators in one of my classes, someone mentioned using a drawer beside the dishwasher, and I thought a nice dark drawer sounded like a great idea. I went home and put some of my own trays in a set of drawers up in my office. The following week the class was reviewing ideas for incubators when it dawned on me that I had forgotten all about the trays in the office. I went home and found three drawers full of shoots still yellow and more than ready for the windowsill. I watered the trays and put them on the sill, and they grew just fine. This touches on a theme I repeat often in my classes—you cannot mess this up! The seeds want to grow, they are tolerant of mistakes, and anyone— green thumb or brown thumb—can grow an indoor salad garden.
Greening: Ready for the Light After 4 days of growing in the dark, the young shoots should be about 1 inch (2.5 cm) high. They will have pushed the paper up, and their yellow heads will be peeking around the covers. I call it the “push-up day,” and it is the sign that they are ready to come out of hiding and head for the sunlight.
When the soil sprouts have pushed the paper cover up about 1 inch (2.5 cm), they are ready to go into the light. Depending upon the temperature in the dark cupboard, this is usually about 4 days after planting. If the temperature is cool, around 55°F (13°C), then this may take an extra day or two to get the full growth, 1 inch (2.5 cm) high, we are looking for before exposing them to the light.
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Seed Reference and Soil Sprout Recipes
Pea shoots are the workhorse of soil sprouts. They’re easy, productive, and tolerant of cool temperatures. They’re crispy and sweet and just as good in a fresh salad as they are cooked in a stir-fry. Pea shoots have a long history in Chinese cuisine dating back some 5,000 years. This is a versatile seed that’s great for kids to start with because it’s easy to grow and dramatic changes are visible day to day.
Seed The variety that I grow is a snow pea; it’s the one used in Chinese cooking, flat with no full, round peas in the pod. A friend in China said it’s what they grow there, and I’ve had good success with the variety. It grows tall with a tender stem and lots of green leaves. Almost any variety will work, though; I’ve tried them all. I don’t particularly like the dwarf varieties often listed in seed catalogs for shoots, but they work just fine, too. I just happen to think the snow pea is more vigorous and productive.
Sow Scatter 1 tablespoon (14.8 ml) of soaked pea seeds on top of the soil. It’s best to weed out the broken and off-color seeds now—they won’t grow and will rot on top of the soil. Peas will soak up a lot of water in the first 6 hours, so make sure the dry seeds are covered with an extra measure of water at the very beginning to keep up with the swelling peas.
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