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Growing salad greens indoors is a great way to add homegrown produce to your plate year-round. With just a few simple supplies and a few helpful tips, you can start a rotation of salad greens that will grace your plate even when the ground is covered with snow.
Salad greens need what every other veggie needs to grow – soil, light, and water. But they are a little less picky about their environment, and you can grow salad greens inside under cooler conditions than other vegetables. This makes them a perfect candidate for growing at home off-season.
To grow your own lettuce, arugula, spinach, or salad mix inside, all you need are a few simple pieces of equipment (they’ll last you for years, so the investment will be worth it).
Materials Needed
- A planter or two that are at least 12 inches long by 6 inches wide (a rectangular planter works great for a windowsill, or you can use a wide flat seed starting tray on a grow light stand);
- Seeds (we prefer to use a lettuce blend or even mixed Asian greens); High Mowing Organic Seeds also offers a number of microgreens blends that would well for this purpose.
- Soil (seedstarting mix is great for a shallow planter; if you are using something deeper you can use less expensive potting soil on the bottom then put a layer of seedstarting mix on the top);
- A light source. If you have a south-facing window sill that gets a good amount of sunshine for most of the day, that should be enough. But, if you want your lettuce to grow faster or your house doesn’t get as much light in mid-winter, consider a small table top grow light stand or make your own full size grow light stand.
- A spray bottle to water the seedlings (a small water bottle can come in handy later but isn’t necessary).
- A small fan. This might surprise you, but a small tabletop fan can be very helpful when growing salad greens. Greens grown indoors aren’t experiencing the same variable weather conditions as those grown in the garden. Namely, they aren’t being blown around. As such, if you don’t recreate a little bit of that weather (i.e. wind) they will be very soft and weak.
How to Plant Salad Greens
- Salad greens are arguably the easiest vegetable to plant! All you need to do is dampen your soil with warm water. Stir it in a bucket.
- Put the soil into your planter and scatter the salad green seeds on top of it.
- Place the planter on a warm window sill or under a grow light, and voila, you’re done.
- While you wait for the salad greens to germinate, water the surface with a spray bottle at least once daily (twice if the soil looks dried out).
- Once they have germinated and reached about an inch in height, you can water them with a watering can or spray them, but a little heavier.
- Once your greens are over an inch high, turn the fan on for a few hours daily. As it gets warmer outside, opening a nearby window for a few hours can also help achieve stronger weather-resistant growth.
How to Harvest Salad Greens
Most salad greens mixes will “cut and come again” at least a few times before they are done. So, you can use a pair of scissors to cut one section of your greens each time you want some (moving down the row as you go) and watch the section that you cut back re-grow.
Cut the greens after they have grown a baby-sized leaf (usually about 3-4 inches tall), snipping about 1/2 to 3/4 inch above the surface of the soil. Depending on the seed variety you may be able to do this 2-3 times for each tray full.
To have a continuous supply of greens, consider starting a second tray about 2 weeks after the first, and on a rotating basis thereafter.
Enjoy your fresh salad greens as a salad by themselves, in sandwiches, or as a garnish!
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- How to Grow and Harvest Mint
Carrie Williams Howe is an educational leader by day and an aspiring homesteader by night and weekend. She lives on a small homestead in Vermont with her husband, two children, and a rambunctious border collie. She blogs about her family's homestead life at The Happy Hive.
