Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nutrient-Dense, Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 Days
The Low-Tech, No-Grow-Lights Approach to Abundant Harvest
Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening offers good news: with nothing more than a cupboard and a windowsill, you can grow all the fresh salad greens you need for the winter months (or throughout the entire year) with no lights, no pumps, and no greenhouse.
Longtime gardener Peter Burke was tired of the growing season ending with the first frost, but due to his busy work schedule and family life, didn't have the time or interest in high-input grow lights or greenhouses. Most techniques for growing what are commonly referred to as "microgreens" left him feeling overwhelmed and uninterested. There had to be a simpler way to grow greens for his family indoors. After some research and diligent experimenting, Burke discovered he was right--there was a way! And it was even easier than he ever could have hoped, and the greens more nutrient packed. He didn't even need a south-facing window, and he already had most of the needed supplies just sitting in his pantry. The result: healthy, homegrown salad greens at a fraction of the cost of buying them at the market. The secret: start them in the dark.
Growing "Soil Sprouts"--Burke's own descriptive term for sprouted seeds grown in soil as opposed to in jars--employs a method that encourages a long stem without expansive roots, and provides delicious salad greens in just seven to ten days, way earlier than any other method, with much less work. Indeed, of all the ways to grow immature greens, this is the easiest and most productive technique. Forget about grow lights and heat lamps! This book is a revolutionary and inviting guide for both first-time and experienced gardeners in rural or urban environments. All you need is a windowsill or two. In fact, Burke has grown up to six pounds of greens per day using just the windowsills in his kitchen! Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening offers detailed step-by-step instructions to mastering this method (hint: it's impossible not to succeed, it's so easy!), tools and accessories to have on hand, seeds and greens varieties, soil and compost, trays and planters, shelving, harvest and storage, recipes, scaling up to serve local markets, and much more.
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"Astounding and important, simple and doable. Every dollar you invest in Peter Burke's book can be returned to your pocket by next week."--Shannon Hayes, author of Radical Homemakers
"Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening offers an empowering path to growing food in any season and any living space, no matter the size or location. As a longtime grower of soil-sprouted greens, I appreciate Peter Burke's easy-to-understand style of teaching the basics. His book opens the door to an accessible way of integrating high-vibrational produce into our daily lives. This is an essential book for deepening our practices of self-reliance for greater quality of life."--Katrina Blair, author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds
"Not just another sprouting book! Peter Burke offers new information that will inspire would-be sprouters, who never got started due to lack of space or time, as well as veteran growers of sprouts. This book is the answer for those who desire a fast crop with the least amount of effort, equipment, and expense. I'm sold! I'm dusting off my windowsills now."--Nomi Shannon, creator of RawGourmet.com and author of What Do Raw Fooders Eat?
Library Journal-
"Based in Calais, VT, gardener and gardening instructor Burke (thedailygardener.com) argues that anyone can learn easily and quickly to grow a high yield of organic soil sprouts--a nontraditional salad fodder--indoors using minimal square footage and no specialized equipment. This title, a version of which was self-published in 2012, includes a seed reference section, a list of sprout recipes, a FAQ and troubleshooting segment, and a list of sources. The subject matter is relevant to both seasoned and new gardeners in an increasingly ecologically conscious, highly urban society. VERDICT: Recommended for readers interested in sustainable, small-space, and/or winter gardening."
Publishers Weekly-
"Burke, founder of the Daily Gardener website, gets downright nerdy about seeds, soils, and salads in this treatise on the soil sprout. Not to be confused with the microgreen or the common sprout, Burke's soil sprouts grow in a special soil growing mix. The seeds start their life in a dark place indoors where they stretch out looking for light. When moved onto a windowsill, the seed leaves turn green--from seed to salad in less than 10 days. The author promises that the process is fairly forgiving of errors, but he also spends a good deal of the book giving precise details about the tricks, tips, and troubleshooting that has occupied his attention for many years. This obsession has become the basis for workshops and even a small indoor 'farming' business selling greens to the local school cafeteria food service. Yet something about his enthusiasm makes the average home gardener want to run out and buy a bunch of aluminum foil loaf pans and a bale of vermiculite, and go to town with some pea shoots. Recipes and a list of the best seeds to be grown are essential references. The book makes the enterprise of growing salad year-round and inside seem at once appealing and daunting."
"Peter Burke's book is a great resource for growing indoor salad greens. The chapters are set up in a simple sequence that is easy to follow. The excellent photos help to show what you should expect along the way. I have been using Peter's method to teach my students how to grow indoor salad greens, and it's also an excellent way to teach students of any age about sustainability, soil nutrition, and healthy eating, as well as basic plant requirements such as water, sunlight, and nutrients. Students love to grow soil sprouts because the results are so fast--and delicious!"--Steven Colangeli, Science and Agriculture Teacher at Middlebury Union High School, Vermont
"Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening is not your father's garden book. This book presents a new way to grow salad greens that doesn't require a greenhouse or grow tunnel or cold frame or sprouting jars. Step by step, in clear prose with helpful photographs, Peter Burke shows you how to grow an amazing range of greens and gives you tasty hints on how to use what you've grown. Buy this book and use it. You won't regret adding it to your garden library."--Edward C. Smith, author of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible
"Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening is proof that you don't need a lot of space, time, or resources to produce nutrient-dense food for you and your family. Peter Burke has written a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to growing real food indoors. His soil sprouts method redefines the word 'garden.'"--Ben Hewitt, author of The Nourishing Homestead
"Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening is thorough and concisely written, making it a highly useful guide for both novice and advanced gardeners. Peter Burke's straightforward instructions are easy to understand and provide clear insight on how to produce an abundance of fresh soil-sprouted greens at any time of year. A helpful and inspiring resource for the inquisitive gardener."--Steve Rodrigue, crop specialist for Johnny's Selected Seeds
