Comments on: Leafy Greens Are A Rip-Off

By: Karrie

Karrie — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:23:50 +0000

Even if it doesn’t make a full salad everyday, why not try and use it to add to some you have bought from the store. Who know, your salad may end up a happy head of lettuce and you will be a happy eater too!

Last summer we had lettuce comming out of our ears and I planted 6 plants at a time. We ate well as a family of 5. I think we had salad every dinner.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:52:09 +0000

I have found the only ways to produce greens in winter is to either go hydroponic with strong grow lights; get a heated greenhouse, again you might need grow lights; or try a cold frame.

It is worth it to me to buy my greens during the winter. I can always add home grown microgreens like the ones from http://www.territorialseed.com/prod_detail_list/s.

We can start greens outdoors in February. Except for the hot part of the summer, August, I start greens every two weeks to transplat out. That way we have greens for at least six to eight months, if I remember to cover the last planting on frosty nights.

Decadent Housewife, try using potting mix rather than garden soil for your container plants. I covered that in my blog, http://susan-chicdaisy.blogspot.com/2010/03/starting-seeds-and-repotting-plants.html.

Stephanie, garlic planted this time of year may not form small cloves. You may just end up with one giant clove. No worries, it still tastes the same.

Susan
http://susan-chicdaisy.blogspot.com/

By: Decadent Housewife

Decadent Housewife — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:05:53 +0000

This works for garnishes or herbs but I’ve never been able to produce enough salad greens in a sunny window, here in Canada, for a family with five men.

And then there is always the problem of damping off. I get nervous adding chemical to combat that even with sterilizing the soil.

By: Clisby

Clisby — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:49:03 +0000

I’ve been able to grow garlic both inside and in my garden – it seems like I always end up with some sprouting, and I just plant the cloves.

Now, I live in SC, where we don’t get much really cold weather and there’s normally plenty of sunshine in the winter. I’m not sure how well it would do inside otherwise – unless you had grow lights, of course.

By: Katy

Katy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:49:41 +0000

Clisby, I agree. Herbs are a great way to save money with an indoor garden. We don’t use cans because we don’t buy food in cans (due to the BPA leeching and such). But there are many options for a window sill garden for herbs.

By: stephanie

stephanie — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:53:29 +0000

Clisby, what’s been your experience with garlic? I grow rosemary indoors (tried to get my basil and cilantro through the winter inside, but it was just too cold and cloudy), but I’d love to try garlic. Didn’t realize it could thrive inside, and this time of year, it seems like all the garlic I buy is sprouting already.

By: Clisby

Clisby — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:12:55 +0000

Even if you think this won’t work for your salad needs (wouldn’t work for mine) don’t disregard it as a way to save on what in my experience is far more expensive – fresh herbs. If you cook with herbs, growing your own basil, parsley, rosemary, etc. – even some garlic and chives – is a no-brainer. I don’t know about the rest of you – but at my grocery stores, I’d have to buy way more of the fresh herbs than I really need at the moment, and then they’d be all wilted by the time I could use them. Where I live, rosemary is a year-round plant, so it’s outside. I grow herbs inside in winter and outside in warmer weather – but if you don’t have a yard, you could grow them inside year-round.

By: Tiff

Tiff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:08:05 +0000

Thank you for the link Leslie. I spent a fair ammount of time trying to calculate how many indoor planters I was going to need to grow enough lettuce for salads and where to put them all. lol.
The author says in her blog that she is growing lettuce to garnish sandwiches and that she doesn’t grow enough for a diet of salad. I wonder if that has changed since she posted that in November because I am super curious to learn how she does it

By: Katy

Katy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:47:36 +0000

Ahh. I see. Yeah, my idea of a salad is at least a handful of greens, tomatoes, onions, etc (to the liking of the person eating it) on the side of a nice meal or, if it’s just the meal, I will take a few handfuls of greens, veggies, a meat protein (chicken, turkey, etc) and possibly a hardboiled egg sliced up and thrown in. (need the protein and carbs if it’s my entire meal) I didn’t realize she was just chatting about 1 or 2 leaves per person per week. I can see how that could be done in a window garden. Thank you for the clarification. It makes a lot more sense now.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:12:00 +0000

Make sure to check out the author’s window garden at

under1000permonthDOTblogspot.com/2009/11/harvest-time.html