Growing microgreens indoor during winter

In the spirit of growing year round, I experiment with cold tolerant crops when most people can't grow outdoors. I've tried a makeshift mini polytunnel/greenhouse with little materials.

Additionally I grow microgreens indoors under grow lights, and on the porch turned into a mini greenhouse. Right now I'm growing microgreens in the porch greenhouse.

Recently I covered the porch in two layers of transparent plastic sheeting to protect my starters and seedlings.

I debated whether or not to bring all the houseplants back inside for the winter, so I only brought in a few and am starting over so to speak.

Honestly, there's too many for my house and I worry about the weight of the plants collectively in my house, plus the moisture, and my cats messing with the plants-- all makes my decision to get rid of the houseplants.

All of the houseplants were covered under the porch greenhouse with blankets over them, but they couldn't survive the temperatures this winter.

However, I wanted to provide you with some inspiration from others' indoor grow operations for microgreens and other food. These are perfect for winter months when you need a little green and freshness to liven the mood of a dreary winter season.

How to Grow Microgreens

Green gold farms

Sprouting seeds of love

Healthy lady

Healthy lady blog

Infusion fibers

Microgreen farm

Acosmic gardens

Pinimig

Pinimg

Covering the fruit trees from snow & other fruits trying to grow

It was a cold and snowy morning so I prepared for the snow last night by covering the tulip garden and blooming fruit trees. When I woke up this morning, I knocked off the snow from the tree covers and the row covers on the tulips.

Obviously I can't cover the bigger fruit trees, but I can cover the blueberries and actually I should have because they're trying to bloom as well.

The two large pear trees and plum are too big to cover

The old peach is too big to cover

I have kept the 3 fig trees covered all winter & spring so far

I think there's less than 10 blueberries and most of them are trying to bloom

2 goji plants are leafing but the other 2 are not

The other 2 goji are here with aronia plants and grape vines that are leafing

The raspberries are leafing out here, but the 5th goji here is also not leafing yet 

Harvested Indoor Sprouts (microgreens) + radishes from winter garden

Eat sprouts with sandwiches or in salads

Container & indoor garden with potted Cauliflower & microgreens

Much of the outdoor garden has been harvested like the broccoli, lettuce, peas, and radishes. I'm not sure if the artichoke will survive any longer through the winter, although I have attempted to cover it heavily through these cold nights.

But I dug up the cauliflower from the garden because they were growing so well, and I planted them in their own large pots. Also with the bok choy and nappa cabbage I bought from the store and ate, I planted the roots of the bok choy and cabbage.
At night I cover the potted plants individually with the grow bags I used for the potatoes. I can bring these potted plants inside, but I have so many potted plants as it is; so I am going to try and keep these covered every night through the winter, and even triple cover them if needed on the coldest nights.

Additionally, I am experimenting with growing microgreens to eat. I planted arugula, radish, and mustard seed and put them under a grow light. They have grown so quickly. Compare the first photo with the second, and you'll see the progress within a couple of hours of growing.

Microgreens usually take about 8-10 days, sometimes longer, till you can harvest to eat the sprouts for sandwiches, wraps, in smoothies, or as a garnish on salads.

Made another mini greenhouse garden tunnel for winter growing

still harvesting figs and lettuce

 It's getting in the 30s this week at night, so I will be covering the fig trees since I'm still harvesting figs. Additionally, I am covering the broccoli plants and lettuces with plastic to protect from the colder nights ahead. I put together a polytunnel today using rebar to hold the plastic hoops and used plastic sheeting to cover over the lettuce.

growing lettuce in winter

I have patches of radishes, swiss chard, collards, and lettuce growing among the broccoli plants that I cover at night. I use what I have on hand which happened to be glass panes from an old refrigerator. In the photo here you see some covered this way. There's many ways to cover plants with recyclable materials. I use the grow bags to cover plants, as well as blankets, garden canvas, jugs, plastic pet cones; and I'm sure I will use many different materials in the future.

plus I made a winter shelter for the outside cats

Pineapples & Tropical house plants going indoors for fall & winter (& keeping cats out)

I really struggle to keep the inside and outside cats out of the garden and the houseplants. I have found ways of controlling this problem. In the garden, I made a fence along the rows to disorient the cats and keep them off of the garden mounds, in addition to fencing around houseplants indoors. To keep cats out, I also sit houseplants on top of dressers, stands, or grow hanging potted plants.

Here are some of my houseplants that I have been moving indoors to stay warm during the cool autumn nights and through the winter. I made a video of the houseplants which I will post on here soon, but I have rearranged the houseplants to all stay in the utility room with the cat litter to control the air quality. The utility room also has decent lighting and a heater for all the plants to get plenty of sunshine and heat. I also keep the ceiling light/fan on for the plants as well.

 Heartleaf Philodendon in hanging pot by window & stove to keep warm

With these houseplants, I have them on a short table with mesh fencing around the table to keep the cats out.

Christmas Cactus, Peace Lily, Dracaena, Heartleaf philodendron by window & heater for warmth

The palm tree is on an elevated stand to keep the cats out of the pot. Up from the palm is pineapple plants, another palm, snake plant, and heartleaf philodendron on a tall table.

Palm trees, pineapples, snake plant by heater with other houseplants

heartleaf philodendron with the other houseplants on table

It's not a good idea to put the big snake plant on a table considering its weight. But I have another snake plant sitting on an elevated stool to prevent the cats from getting in it.

Snake plants with other houseplants 

 I have additional house plants to bring indoors for the winter. Not only am I trying to keep the cats out of the house plants, but I am running out of room in the house for big plants. And this pineapple plant weighs at least a hundred pounds, so for now I am keeping them in the porch/greenhouse. At night I cover these with plastic so they are double covered. Eventually I am going to bring these plants in for the winter. I don't want to risk losing them to the cold winter after I have been growing them for years. I believe it is the pineapples fourth year...

Pineapples & aloe in outdoor greenhouse/porch

 One of the corn stalks fell over from the last storm, and to my surprise there was a big cob, so I picked it. The corn variety is Trucker's favorite, and it grew very quickly. I planted this corn late summer! I love the little surprises that the garden gifts us...

Early spring: how I'm covering the flower garden & Fruit trees

Many of the flowers this Spring are blooming three weeks ahead compared to previous years. The fruit trees such as Pears, Nectarines, and Peaches are blooming in the garden as well. With the fruit trees I covered almost all of them with Agfabric with a drawstring that you see in the picture below. 

For the trees that were blooming, I double wrapped them with an additional garden cloth or blanket. With the biggest pear tree that had blooms and the nectarine with blooms, I covered them with two cloth fabric sheets and a plastic sheet. With the fig trees, I covered them with plastic and the fabric cloth on the outside. For the flowers like Hyacinths and Tulips that are blooming early, I have covered them with plastic sheeting and plastic cloches to retain moisture and heat throughout the night. This week it will be below 20 degrees amid some risk of snow/early frost warnings, so I am keeping the fruit trees and flower and garden covered as well as the polytunnel garden as you can see in the last photo. 

Plastic sheet covering Tulip/hyacinth/crocus/flower seed mix bed

Tulips protected with recycled dog cone

Hyacinths covered in small plastic tub with foam sheet over top & refrigerator glass shelves

Plastic over cabbage plants

There are 2 holes in the 'reservoir' center to slowly drip rain water

An Indoor Greens Garden for COLD climate February harvest! (video)

MIgardener shows you that you can grow an indoor garden in a colder climate and harvest in February.

What's growing on in the Winter Garden 2017

Now that Spring is closer upon us in the US, I'm cleaning up the garden mounds to be mulched soon. Today I'm starting some seeds indoors in my mini greenhouse with grow lights. Some of the plants I will be starting is a Artichoke, Lettuce, Brussels, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and I want to pick up some Radish seed to start growing them early indoors. Then towards mid-March or early April I will transplant these in the garden. Before I transplant though I want to have composted and mulched the mounds and made polytunnels to protect the plants. Afterward that point, I will start Tomato and Pepper plants indoors to be transplanted in May. I hope to have mulched and composted the mounds for these plants, then in May I will directly sow Squash, Melons, Gourds, and other things in the garden.

As of now, I have been growing a couple of rows of Arugula, Collard greens, lettuce, and carrots in the Hugelkultur garden. There is some cilantro and Red Russian kale growing among the greens as well. Because here in Kentucky the winter has been mild, the greens have been growing with little protection from now in the beginning of February from September. All I have used to protect the greens from the cold and snow is cloth row covers like garden canvas. I have been able to have greens to eat in salads or eaten fried. I also harvested a couple of carrots that I noticed were a decent size to pull up. Today I had a surprisingly long carrot that was growing in one of the garden mounds. Below are photos of the winter garden and the carrot harvested today.

collards

 

collards

lettuce

carrot harvested

row of Carrots

row of Arugula & Collards