Indoor and small-space Edible Plants

BUD Organic Magazine, Ingredients for a healthy lifestyle Issue #1
INDOOR AND SMALL-SPACE EDIBLE PLANTS

For many of us, the first food we ever grew was mustard and cress on the kitchen windowsill or beans squashed by rolled up paper towels to the inside of a jum jar.  Growing their own food indoors is very exciting for children and fast germinations means quick results for impatient yound growers.  By Leonie Shanahan  

The beauty of growing your own food and therefore eating the freshest possible food is that you can do it with or without soil and no matter where you live - on a boat, in a caravan, or in a house.  There are ways of growing food in the sun or in the shade and it does not matter how old or young you are.  Everyone can grow something fresh and nutritious and delicious!.

Most food starts with a seed.  Get that right and you are off to a good start.

Seed
No matter what seed you use, you do the same amount of work (not that I call gardening work - especially growing food with children) so why not buy great Australian organic seed to start with.  It is full of uncontaminated nutrients and you will be supporting an environmentally friendly Australian company and you can be sure any seed you save will grow true to type.

Before you sow your seeds pour the amount of seed you want into a shallow container and check for blemishes – throw away any chipped, damaged or discoloured seeds. Take the time to look at the variety, sizes and textures and wonder at  how so much good food can come from that tiny seed.  If you harvest and save your own seeds, be grateful for the abundance those seeds will bring  you and your family.  

It is very important to learn the simple art of seed saving.  Each time we save organic non-hybrid, open pollinating or heirloom seed, the seed is a little more adapted to your own climate and conditions and becoming stronger and hardier.  Select the strongest, healthiest plant for seed saving (yes, I know that can be hard!).  Label the plant so that others do not harvest from it.  All the energy of the plant should go into the seed.

To harvest the seed, wait until the seeds have matured, dried and gone brown. Pick them and remove the seeds from the pod or flower head.  Place seeds into a small sealed plastic bag and then into a labelled envelope or jar.  

It is essential to label the seed.  e.g.
Date: 7.7.2012
Name: Sweet basil
Place: OLR Caloundra Qld
Qty: 50

When you save seed you will get hundreds of seeds to plant for next season, all from one plant!  Amazing and all free!  Children love seed saving.  It is very calming, connects them to the earth and they are empowered by the knowledge that saving seed from one plant could, next season, provide food for their family, friends and school.

Easy seeds to save are amaranth, basil, beans, cucumber, dill, luffa, marigolds, pawpaw, peas, pumpkin, snow peas and watermelon.  Cucumber, pawpaw, pumpkin and watermelon seeds are scraped from the ripe fruit and dried before storing.

Growing Indoors
With the colder weather upon us, gardening indoors or just outside your window or door can be very appealing and convenient.  You can easily grow sprouts, microgreens and herbs without venturing far outside.

Sprouts are food grown from seed in a jar without soil, using only water to activate the seeds and only require a minute or two a day of your time. Sprouts are extremely nutritious, fast, and  fun to  grow.

Mung beans (seeds) are an easy seed to start with.  Good seeds to sprout during cool weather are alfalfa,  broccoli,  fenugreekand and radish.
Day 1: Place enough seeds (organic of course) into a jar.  Use enough seed to form a small layer at the base of your chosen  jar.  Fill the jar  with water and soak for a day.
Day 2: Put muslin or other loose cloth or fine netting over the  jar opening and close with a rubber band.  Tip the water out, leaving the cloth on so the seeds don’t fall out, refill the jar with clean water and rinse again. Leave the jar at an angle, in a dish or ice-cream container to drain. The seeds need air, which is why you put the jar on an angle. Later in the day, repeat the procedure.
Day 3: By now you will probably be able to see little sprouts appearing from the seeds. Carefully rinse the seeds / sprouts twice (once in the morning and again later in the day) and leave the jar on an angle as before. Continue the above process for another 1 to4 days. The sprouts should then be ready to eat. Sprouts can be eaten as they are or sprinkled on top of soups, sandwiches or any other food. If a bit slimy, continue to rinse.  Once all sprouts are eaten, wash jar well and start again!

Microgreens are seeds which are raised to produce young petite edible greens. They usually take about 2 to 4 weeks from seed to harvest, depending on the weather.  When they are about 5cm you snip the stems and leaves off near the base of the plant, wash and add for a tasty addition to sandwiches, salads or sprinkle on any dish.  To grow microgreens inside you need to have a window or ledge that gets  around 4 hours of sunlight a day.  You also need a seedling tray or clear plastic strawberry punnet type containers with holes in the bottom or something similar.  Punnets are ideal for small batches and you can use the lid as well.  Soak the seeds in a weak solution of seaweed mix overnight.  Place about 3cm of organic potting mix with worm castings or coco peat into your container and moisten.  Sprinkle the seeds evenly on top and sprinkle some shifted or fine potting mix or sand over the seeds to cover them.  Keep moist by spraying with water.  Good seeds to use for microgreens include amaranth, beetroot, broccoli, kale, mesclun salad mix, peas and sunflowers.                   
                    
You can grow herbs indoors, in a pot or on a windowsill, or any sunny spot.  It is lovely to get the kids involved.  They will enjoy painting old pots with colourful, cheery pictures or words.  Be creative and think outside the square.  You probably have all sorts of potential herb pots around your home just waiting to be put to a new use - gumboots, shoes, tins, old saucepans and my favourite kettles and teapots.  Make sure your container has drainage holes - you may need to drill these in the bottom and you may need to cover large holes with old shade cloth or netting to keep the soil in.   Fill half your container with organic potting mix, add a sprinkle of rock minerals and about 10 chicken poo pellets, fill the rest of your container with more potting mix then plant your herbs.  If you are growing indoors, you need fairly hardy herbs.  Try chives, parsley, rosemary, thyme and winter savory.  Water them ‘in’  with a diluted solution of seaweed mix.  Your potted plants rely on you for their food and water, so fertilise with a spray of diluted seaweed every 2-3 weeks and only water when the soil has dried out.

It is so lovely to look out your window in the morning and see food or flowers growing just outside - such a positive way to start the day.  These days you can go to a hardware store and buy all sorts of window boxes with brackets that mount easily to walls or balcony’s.  You can also hang baskets from your deck, railing and verandah or pergola roofs.  Trailing plants such as nasturtiums and prostrate rosemary look great cascading down from window boxes or hanging baskets. You can make your own window box from recycled wood.  Make sure your window box drains well away from the house and that your brackets are strong enough to hold your new garden.

Most food grows best in the sun, but thankfully there are plants that are happy in the shade or part shade.  Many of the homes I have lived in haven’t had much of a backyard and most of it has been in the shade.  People would tell me all the time I couldn’t grow this and that, but I did it anyway as that was all I had and sometimes it did grow well!  My advice to you is to experiment.  Plants that like or can handle, some shade are asian greens, brazillian spinach, beetroot, bell peppers, lebanese cress, lettuce, mesclun mix, mushroom plant, radish, rainbow chard, spring onion and herbs such as chervil, chives, coriander, lemon balm, marjoram, nasturtium, oregano, parsley and pineapple sage.  Ginger, turmeric and galangal grow in shade.

Remember it’s always good to look at things through children’s eyes.  I still like to put my carrot and beetroot tops on some paper towel in a saucer or lid with water and watch the mini leaves start to grow again, like little bonsai, with stunning colours and textures - another source of microgreens!  

Experience the joy of growing something you can eat!

Gardening for the future of our children.  Leonie Shanahan Edible School Gardens

BUD Organic  Magazine, Ingredients for a healthy lifestyle   Issue #1
Leonie Shanahan:  Edible School Gardens,   Photographer: Di Harris