Edible All Year Gardening
Edible All Year Gardening is a term used to show how you can integrate plants, which you can eat into your garden to grow inside and out.
Not just greens, edible gardening includes greens, fruit, flowers, seeds, nuts, roots and leaves.
This section of the All Year Gardening website starts our Edible Gardening with growing your indoor salad bowl.
No Room For A Garden? Grow Your Greens Indoors
Are you interested in giving Edible Gardening a try? But maybe you don’t have a lot of space outside for a garden, or you’re just not that interested in digging up a big chunk of your lawn.
The good news is you don’t have to. It doesn’t take a lot of space or soil to grow your lettuce, and you can do it inside, on your kitchen counter or in a sunny window.
The beautiful thing about growing your greens is that most varieties don’t need a lot of space or soil to grow and they grow relatively fast.
They also tend to grow well in temperatures that we’re most comfortable at in the house. As long as you find a nice sunny spot for your lettuce and greens will do well.
One of the simplest ways to start if you just want to try this out is to cut off the ends of your romaine lettuce from the store and sit them in a cup or container with a little water.
Leave it in there for about a week or until you start to see new green growth coming from the cut end, and roots forming at the bottom. Once those roots are about an inch or two long, plant your new lettuce plant into a bowl or small pot filled with potting soil.
Keep it watered and in a sunny window and watch your lettuce grow. You can cut and regrow more lettuce several times.
Another fun option is to get lettuce seedlings at your local home and garden center.
They will usually keep them stocked in the spring and depending on your local growing season again in late summer or early fall.
Again, just grab a pot or an old bowl, fill it with good potting soil and plant your lettuce. It won’t take long before it grows enough that you can start to harvest.
Last but not least, you can grow any lettuce and microgreen variety from seed all year.
Take a look at the seed packets your local garden center has available year round. Pay attention to germination time (and temperature), and how long it will take your lettuce to grow to maturity.
Once you see those first few harvests and get a chance to eat your own greens, you’ll be ready to expand your lettuce bowl collection.
Edible All Year Gardening and the Types Of Greens To Grow
You can grow just about any type of lettuce in your salad bowl. That being said, there are some varieties that lend themselves to ongoing growing and harvesting.
But let’s not put the cart before the horse. The size of your bowl and how many bowls you want to have sitting around determine what type and how many greens you can grow.
Or flip that around and figure out how much you want per week and then figure out how many bowls it will take to keep you from heading to the grocery store.
Or you can keep it simple and start with one planting bowl. See how you like growing your own lettuce and microgreen on your kitchen counter or your patio.
If you find you’re eating the green leaves as fast as they can grow, consider adding another bowl or two.
Let’s go back to what you can grow in fairly small containers indoors.
Loose leaf lettuce is often your best bet when you want to be able to continually harvest greens for your salads.
Of course you’re not limited to just loose leaf lettuce. You can also grow spinach, green onions and various herbs in containers inside. Mix and match them in your bowls, or set up separate little containers to grow your favorite salad herbs in.
If you have enough room, you can even grow some radishes to cut up and add to your salad.
Start with a few different varieties of loose leaf lettuce like oak leaf, butter oak, red sails, or the aptly named red salad bowl. Romaine lettuces also work well and will regrow after you cut the leaves.
If you like a slightly peppery taste, don’t forget about arugula also known as rocket.
Mix and match varieties until you find a combination that grows well for you and you like to eat. Water your plants, fertilize occasionally with an organic fertilizer and refresh the soil every few month.
If you harvest and replant on an ongoing basis, you may never run out of fresh lettuce for your kitchen table.
Getting Started with Edible Gardening
To achieve the health benefits of your home grown edible greens, there’s more information to help you get started.
Your Edible Salad Bowl 101, How To Get Started Growing Your Own Greens, and, Salad Garden Product Reviews, Part A.
Growing your own greens is popular and we’ll keep you up to date with new improved products as they come on the market.
