Winter Indoor Salad Garden

I am in a new home (moved in February). It has been a busy year. But, I know of the perfect place in my backyard for a lettuce bed- it should be about 6' x 4'. The area was used for a kennel at one time, I believe, and it has some stones on the perimeter. I was tempted to broadcast lettuce seeds but the ground is still rock-hard...drought, you know? I'd like to work the land a little to break the soil and then add more soil on top. I need to weed the area as well.

I have some beds in the front yard that need to be worked as well.

ookkk it makes sense ... sorry I have just bad manners ... good luck

John-when you get done at your place do you mind coming up here and finishing mine? I've only lived here 17yrs. Never had an issue with deer until the drought,so I put up a chicken wire fence to keep the rabbits out. Needless to say rabbits are no longer the problem. Good luck!

Drthor-I don't think you showed bad manners. It was a legitimate question with a legitimate answer.

No bad manners at all! Looking back at my post, I can understand the question. I use lights to start seeds mainly but I also use them to grow things whenever I need.

Same here. My raised bed is STILL not built. At least the pans can be moved outdoors at some point - at least, that's my intention.

Gymgirl wrote "You're referring to the T5 tubes, right, and not the regular old 4 ft. fluorescent shop lights?"

My bad, these were the soon to be obsolete T12 bulbs which I was using in my shop lights.

After thinking this process through I decided to use one of the fixtures and set up a cold frame inside my 12ft x 8 ft hoop house using straw bales and some old window frames as covers. I made a telescoping light stand from PVC and I'm hoping these "inefficient' bulbs will generate sufficient heat to grow some lettuce, kale and spinach in our frigid weather. The temps got above freezing yesterday long enough to set up this cold frame.

Here is a view showing the PVC telescoping light frame which supports an old shop light fixture I purchased from a salvage store for $8. I have two each ot the four foot T12's soft white, and 6100K. I will check around 10 AM tomorrow to see what the temperature of the media is. Hopefully this operation will survive our current single digit night time temperatures long enough to germinate. Worst is yet to come...Negative temperatures can last for several weeks at a time.

This is the light fixture sitting on top of the PVC stand which can be raised about eight inches as necessary. Currently the fixture is about three inches from the growing media which includes wood chip fines. The decomposition process may add some additional heat...hopefully!

Many thanks to all who posted to this thread! I had decided to try growing some lettuces and spinach in my little heated hobby GH this winter (kinda keeps me out of trouble until spring) and needed some tips - many good ones here. Today I sowed two lettuces - 'Tango' and 'Asian Red' - and some 'Bloomsdale Long-Standing' spinach. Had Dr. Earth potting soil and coir mixed together and used plastic produce containers - the big ones that hold strawberries or cherry tomatoes. My little GH is a minimum of 57 degrees but can warm up fast on a sunny day. With three fans (one is always on, another kicks on at 70 degrees when the roof vents open and another little one - always on - under the potting bench where the lights are on for 17 hours). And, if I'm home, I open the door from the GH to the garage to help warm it up while cooling the GH. Can't waste that heat. Anyway, all of your comments were very encouraging and appreciated!

mraider3- wow, that's quite the set-up you have there! Your plants outta be nice and cozy there, it looks like. I feel ashamed now that I had to grow my crops indoors, lol. I just need more time to make my garden beds!! Or maybe better organizational skills...

Here's a tray of my sweet salad mesclun mix from Burpee. I used a roasting tray (thanks for the tip Linda) which is about 15" x 10" x 3". I sowed these on December 16th and the plants are now about 7" tall. I did not thin very well...the packet says thin to 6", 35 DTM & they should be 9 - 15" tall...am I breaking the rules if I "dig in" and eat them right now? lol.

P.S. is mesclun "cut 'n come again" or "one n' done"?

yes you can start eating now.
start cutting from the outside of the plant. More you cut more they will grow back ... just like grass

Perfect...thanks, drthor. You know, the seed packet said that one could also harvest when the leaves were 3" long (which mine are) but I was focusing too much on the DTM. The lights really help, huh?

John, I messed up and the heater kicked the breaker. The surface of the media inside the hay bales froze down about an inch and seed did not germinate. Figured I would just leave it until spring and see if it will come up then.

I did plant some Baby Whales spinach in one lettuce crisper and four kinds of leaf lettuce seed in another today. Growing lettuce and spinach indoors under lights can produce enough for our needs for now. I did try something new for planting the leaf lettuce which I think should work out fairly well. I took some of my dried, spent vermiculture media which is peat moss and ground it up very fine with a mortar and pestle. I fill a small hot seed jar like you find at Pizza Huts with this ground media and then added a spatula full (about 150 seeds) of each kind of lettuce to the jar. Mixed the seeds into the powdered media and then sprinkled it over the surface of the damp potting mix in the lettuce crisper. It appeared I got a nice even distribution of the seed over the surface. I have a one gallon mister which I sprayed the surface with and will maintain a wet surface with this mister until the seedlings are more developed.

I have used this same method for seeding one of my raised beds in which I raise lettuce in the spring. The beds are 4'w x 8'l, and I can divide the bed into thirds. I lay three large black trash bags over the surface early in the spring, and then cover the beds with three old window panes. When the media under the black plastic warms enough to start planting I remove one trash bag and spread the seed over the first third of the bed. Several weeks later I do another third, and so forth. By the time the final third is ready to pick I can pull the first third and start the process over. The great thing about the shaker method is the ability to cover about a ten foot square area with very little seed. And if you miss a spot or two just sprinkle a little more seed. I keep the shaker in my refrigerator crisper ready to go whenever I need it. I purchase new lettuce seed each year and at around $2 per package of around 850 seed, I want to take it as far as I can.

Very nice process, Mraider3. I could see using your process to seed a bed with tiny carrot and mustard seeds, too.

Linda.

Does anyone fertilizer their indoor salad plants? Hating to use chemical fertilizers, I was contemplating top-dressing with some purchased worm castings once the seeds have sprouted. Thoughts?

Linda, this works better than the fine sand I purchased from Home Depot used for cactus plants. Besides better distribution of the seed and using less seed, you can keep the shaker in the refrigerator until you need to use it. I keep saved seeds and purchased seed packets in the crisper section of one of my refrigerators. I have several of these shakers, so it's necessary to label them with the seed(s) they contain.

Cindy, I use a diluted fertilizer once a week when watering my indoor winter garden plants. The stock solution is one cup of Miracle Grow fertilizer to one gallon of water. From the stock solution I take two tablespoons and add it to another gallon of water. I do this even though I have spent vermiculture media and possibly some composted horse or cow manure in the potting mixes used.

I've only had my worm bin going for about a month and was thinking that it might be too early to get much beneficial fertilization from it. Perhaps some worm compost tea from my store-bought bag of the stuff? I don't use MG here.

Lots of people would agree with you Cindy on MG. Perhaps I should use something different. As for using VC before it is considered castings, I would wait about six months. My bins have been active for years and by removing a little dried material from the surface a couple of times a week, I can use this material directly for germination of seedlings without any problems. As for making worm tea to fertilize you plants, I can't see any problem with using it now as well as later. I am referring to the aerated method rather than the liquor from drilled holes in your bins. I don't drill holes in mine and have never tried the later method.

Linda, I have done the carrot row thing and it works great. I also include some pulverized, composted cow manure in the mix for the garden rows.

morgan

Thanks for another great tip on letting the VC age a bit before using. I did buy a little aquarium pump and air stones a couple of weeks ago to brew compost tea over the winter and I can use some store-bought worm castings until my "home grown" VC is ready. I'm thinking I'll throw in some kelp extract and a little molasses to help round out the nutrients a bit. Also a good tip on using the VC for seed starting.

I just posted the same thing Cindy in another recent thread here. There are lots of things you can use to make tea. One thing about using air stones for bubblers is to have some spare stones ready. They do tend to clog rather easily when making tea,

Thanks for the tip on the air stones. I did purchase a multi-pack so I'm good. I just have to get brewing now.

>> I keep saved seeds and purchased seed packets in the crisper section of one of my refrigerators. I have several of these shakers, so it's necessary to label them with the seed(s) they contain.

The vegtable bin / crisper drawer in a refridgerator actually keeps a higher humidity than the rest of the fridge. It keeps vegetables crisp by preventing them from drying out.

http://www.creators.com/advice/everyday-cheapskate/what-do-i-do-with-my-refrigerator-s-crisper-drawer.html
(fourth paragraph).

Try petting a little newsprint on a shelf, and some in the crisper. I bet the paper in the "crisper" is more limp. Neither will be crinkly or brittle like really DRY newspaper. Or leave some lettuce on a shlef see it get limp faster as it looses water faster in the drier air.

Until I realized the vegetable bin was a HIGH-humidity area, I used to keep seeds there. I also think it is possibke to get condensation on the regular shelves, so now the only seeds I refridgerate are tomato and pepper seeds, in tightly sealed jars, with silica gel dessicant inside the jars.

But if your seeds don't germinate or get moldy down there, you don't have a problem. Maybe the humidity just shortens their dormancy period, like waking up half-way. I was afraid it would shorten thier storage lifetime - I'm hoping for more than 4-5 years.

Corey

Well Corey, it looks like I need to do a refrigerator overhaul today...thanks for the advice. Funny thing is I have a jar full of those little plastic desiccant pills which I have been saving and had not found a use for. I heard you could recharge them in the microwave. Very useful advice here Corey...glad you mentioned it.

>> little plastic desiccant pills
>> I heard you could recharge them in the microwave

Hmm, without melting the plastic? Maybe they contain something other than silica gel. Silica gel is regenerated at 250-260F, but NOT above 280 or it will turn dark and become harder to regen. I don;'t know about microwave - it may be very effective and, after all, you don;t need the gel bone-dry.

This site advises NOT drying seeds with a lot of silica gel for MORE THAN 7 days. My approach is to use only a little gel with a lot of seeds and paper, in a largish plastic jar that is not quite air-tight, and figure that the gel is usually half-exhausted and half-strength. I have humidty-indicating cards that show 10-20% RH most of the time.

I don't THINK I'm killing my seeds by over-drying them. The paper in the jar, and the seeds themsleves, serve to buffer the humidity when I add new dessicant.

http://www.southernexposure.com/drying-seed-with-color-indicating-silica-gel-ezp-26.html

They advise equal amounts of (mostly-dry) seeds and silica gel together in a small jar for several days, separated by cloth or whatever. Then move the extra-dry seeds to a small, very tightly sealed jar.

(Seven days is said to dry them down to 3-5% water instead of 12% which is normal for air-dried seeds)

>> but not a summer activity.

Good point! I should cook all the stale silica gell I've been accumulating while it is still cold - run the stove instead of running the furnace.

I should rmeind people unecessarily NOT to pour hot silica gel from the oven into any plastice container, nor even into glass that is prone to crack. Let it cool as fast as possible so it doesn't absorb much water, and then seal it in glass once cool enough.

And spread it thin in the oven, so it dries faster. 250-260F, staying UNDER 280F.

Rick, the best way I've found is to put the silica gel into a wide-mouth Mason jar (no lid) and put the whole thing in a COLD oven. Bring the oven up to about 120ºC / 250ºF and hold for a few hours (or if your gel has a color indicator, until the color changes). Turn the heat off and let the jar cool in the oven until you can touch it without getting burned, then screw on a new lid to keep moisture out. As long as the heating and cooling aren't too abrupt it should work fine without breaking the glass.

Be sure not to exceed the recommended temperature or the silica gel may change internal structure and no longer take up moisture.

-Rich

That does sound like a good idea. I haven't DONE this yet, but my pound-and-a-half of silica gel is almost used up so I will have to, soon.

Reading suggests spreading the gel out into a layer less than 1" thick so it dries more quickly ... you don't find that necessary? You way would be much easier and less messy!

The jars that Safeway sphagetti sauce comes in LOOK like Mason jars, but I doubt if the glass is as heat-resistant. I might have to buy some real Mason jars.

Good to know!

I checked the MSDS data sheets for silica gel once I began to wonder how much dust there was. One of the lowest toxicities of anything I've worked woith, other than food products!

even dust from normal beach sand is worse, because silica gel is amorpohous and sand has some crystaline silica. You could get silicosis by powdering beach sand and snuffling it up, but not from silica gel.

That said, still don't eat it or breath it unnecessarily. And I;m talking about non-indicating silica gel. If indicating silica gel is like Drierite (Cacium sulphate, gypsum?) , the coloring agent includes Cobalt Chloride - well worth mimizing the dust.

That sounds like you're managing quite a lot of humidity. Something that is not a sealed system, but rather open?

I put 1-2 tablespoons into a craft paper envelope (coin envelope) and let it breath through the paper.

Again, that is correct.