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Gardening is an exercise in optimism. Sometimes,
it is a triumph of hope over experience.
- Marina Schinz

The In Season series is a web diary of the gardening successes and mishaps of two eternally hopeful novices. The ladybug above will lead you to previous posts in the series.

This post focuses on things you can grow from what you already have in your home and pantry.

We’ve been wonderfully surprised already. A few days ago, we came across Mandira’s gardening triumphs from last year. One of them - growing garlic shoots from a garlic clove. Duh….how easy is that? And a pretty obvious thing to do. That being said, it never even occured to us.

We stuck four garlic cloves in a pot six days ago. Look at what we have!!! Those are fenugreek (methi) shoots in the background.

We now have a mildly garlicky herb to cook with for the next few months. It doesn’t get simpler than this.

We’ve started some seeds this year for planting both indoors, and in our outdoor veggie garden.
We also buy saplings from our local nursery in April when they are available.

Seeds to Use
We had seeds lying around from previous years - about a dozen varieties. It is recommended that old seeds be subjected to the “germination test”. More about it here.

We didn’t perform the test, ‘cos January is the time to do it. We are already far behind in our planting schedule. Next year, maybe.

Most of us have a variety of seeds in our kitchen and pantry that we can start indoors. Mustard, coriander, chillies, fenugreek (methi), wheat are all seeds we can grow indoors.
There are also a variety of beans that can be started. Dried lima beans, dried peas, etc. can be sprouted and grown in the garden.

We plan to grow the fenugreek indoors and the beans and peas outdoors. We’ve grown wheat grass before from wheat kernels, and the procedure is similar.

The instruction on the seed packets may recommend planting outdoors directly, but we plant some indoors anyway, to give them a head start. In our part of the world, there is no frost-free guarantee until end-May. Besides what have we got to lose planting some seeds indoors and outdoors?

Sprouting
Sprouting seeds is simple. Soak the seeds in plenty of water for 24 hours. Drain the water, cover the bowl and keep it for 24 hours. You will see little sprouts. Rinse them again, drain and cover for another day. For fenugreek or wheat grass, scatter the sprouts in a pot with soil, cover with half inch of soil, and grow them indoors in a sunny spot. (see this example)

After a month or two, as the plants grow leggier, use new sprouts to grow methi.

For peas and beans, scatter the sprouts outdoors in he vegetable patch, or in a porch in a big pot. Thin them out to keep atleast 2 feet between sprouts as they grow. The thinnings can be used for cooking or in salads.

Other seeds
For other seeds that do not need sprouting (e.g. coriander, mustard, red chilli seeds, basil, etc.)
A note about basil: Basil and tomato complement each other well in the garden. It grows much more vigorously outdoors in full sun, and if you do have a veggie patch, plant it next to your tomatoes. The plant also grows well indoors. A basil sapling costs as much as a fresh bunch. So why not grow it by your window sill?
Save the flowerheads that come at the end of summer, just before the plant begins to die. They have a lot of seeds. Last year, we got a wonderful basil plant in our garden, which we never planted. It grew from the previous year’s seeds.

Fill a pot with soil, leaving about 3 inches from the top. Wet the soil thoroughly, let the pot drain, scatter the seeds, cover with half inch soil, mist the top with water, and leave them to germinate. Thin the seedlings out as they begin to grow.

Containers for planting
If you plan to grow your plant indoors, sow your seeds directly in the containers in which you plan to grow them.

If you plan to take them outdoors, go on a treasure hunt around your home. Do you have little used yogurt containers? Small pots? Tupperware containers which you don’t use? An egg carton? Some bamboo skewers? A permanent marker? Some small mailing labels?

Now, we are in business. We prefer non-plastic, biodegradable containers for two reasons:
1. They are eco-friendly
2. They can be planted with the container in the garden. Removing the seedling from a plastic container to put it in the ground sends it into shock, and often damages the delicate roots. Some plants like melons do not tolerate soil disturbance at all.

If you do use plastic containers, remember to make a couple of small holes at the bottom for the excess water to drain.
Some examples
1. Peat pellets - available in any nursery or home improvement store.

Dunk them in about 4 inches of water for 15-20 minutes, and they will expand to five or six times their size. Separate the netting at the top gently, put a couple of seeds in, cover with a little soil, and water and mist as required.

4. A couple of baking trays we got from the thrift store for 50 cents each, to hold all these assorted little planters.

You can also get little plastic trays with compartments for starting seedlings. A peat pellet per compartment is what we do.

Mark the pellet/container. We have a simple system involving bamboo skewers. Chopsticks work too. Make little flags with skewers broken into half, and small sticky labels (the type you get at an office supply store). Write the name of the plant, and the number of pellets/containers you have with them, stick it in the soil, or in the compartment divisions in the egg carton.

If you are using used mini-yogurt containers or plastic cups, mark them directly with a permanent marker.
A white sheet of paper and fine tweezers are useful to see the seeds clearly and put them into the containers for planting.

Planting Saplings indoors
Some vegetables like lettuces, radishes, and swiss chard can be grown indoors in a bright spot, directly in pots.

Soil
Do not use outdoor garden soil to grow indoor plants, or to start seedlings. It is not sterlised and may contain insects, diseases and weeds. Use a mixture of equal parts potting soil, perlite/vermiculite/sand and peat. The perlite lightens the soil and helps moisture retention, peat prevents the soil from clumping up and becoming too dense. Potting mixes that have these ingredients can be used as well.

If garden soil is the only medium you can access to, it can be pasteurised in an oven. Instructions here.

Watering
Water every alternate day, and mist the tops of the plants from time to time. Underwatering is preferable to overwatering. The soil should be moist, but when you dab it with a paper towel, it shouldn’ get wet. Fertilise every two weeks with organic fertiliser. Add 2 inches of compost to the top after the sapling grows. A little molasses mixed into the water increases the acidity of the soil, aiding plant growth.

Light
Some seeds need light to germinate, some prefer darkness (like bean sprouts). Once they grow into saplings, though, they all need light. We’re not sure about individual plant requirements, so we keep them near a window on a table, and regulate the lights through the blinds.

A must read:
These tips on growing from seed, hardening and transplanting.
Also,
Growing food in small spaces

Winter indoor gardening

Growing herbs indoors in winter

Related posts

• Vegetable Patch (11)
• Cucumbers … and the Summer Bounty (49)
• Xacuti (31)
• When in doubt, think Pizza (41)
• Vegan Quiche with Swiss Chard and Corn (26)

SPEAK YOUR MIND

22 Comments so far

1. Sushma on March 17, 2007 11:47 am

   A very informative gardening post…and ofcourse beautiful pictures of garlic and fenugreek shoots…I also plant some herbs like coriander, fenugreek and cilantro in small pots…

   -Sushma

2. Manisha on March 17, 2007 12:09 pm

   Wonderful! Thank you! I’m going to keep my egg cartons from now on!

3. Trupti on March 17, 2007 1:02 pm

   I am going to grow Garlic and Methi too….Garlic chives are great to add at the last stages of a curry, and Kadhis…and my MIL makes a wonderful Garlic Chives curry to go with Bajra Rotlas. Try that combo sometime.

   Poll is still going on…your Dravid is winning! GRRRRRR…

   ah well, guess won’t be including Rahul Sharma’s CD in the Prize basket for Spring Fling.

4. bee on March 17, 2007 1:06 pm

   blackmail, huh?

5. Reena on March 17, 2007 1:35 pm

   Bee, Good suggestions. My 3 year old planted the peat pallet in our indoor kitchen garden last week and now I see some Basil and Mint sprouting. :-). I have Rosemary and Mint outside. I would keep visiting for gardening tips.

6. bee on March 17, 2007 2:01 pm

   you can grow mint where you live right now? i envy you. we get mint only in end May here.

7. Priya on March 17, 2007 2:10 pm

   very very interseting ..even though i live in CA , i get no sunlight in my apt ..will try it indoors & see..

8. Manisha on March 17, 2007 5:38 pm

   Arrrgh! You can have my mint. It’s everywhere. It’s very intrusive and its roots travel for miles before sending another shoot above the soil. Last summer it attempted to compete with the dandelions to take over the lawn. And I see it waking up to do the same this year. Sigh…

   Anyways, went out and got peat pellets and okra seeds. As well as purple coneflower and rudbeckia. I’m late to start, I know. For the others, I will get seedlings from the farmers market, depending on how well these do!

   Your comments keep going to the ’spam’ folder. Do post about your seedlings after a few weeks. I was wondering if we could grow a plant from fresh okra seeds. Didn’t find any in our nursery. - Jai

9. Manisha on March 17, 2007 8:47 pm

   Fresh as in from a fresh pod? I had the same question and one of my readers replied saying that pods are harvested before the seeds can mature. So the answer is no. But you could always try it out

   I don’t know what it is about me and spam. First, my blog. Now, my comments. Something in the ether is trying to send me subliminal messages.

10. Anita on March 17, 2007 8:52 pm

    Not fair!!! Our main ‘gardening’ season is over…unless one has a large patch where one can grow okra, and ghia, and the other summer gourds…
    But I have celery looking good (it stays pretty through the year), and potted mint, lemon grass, kadipatta, and a lemon tree I so desperately want to take out of its pot and plant in the ground. I also carry large patches of Nasturtium which are food for my pet butterflies!
    Manisha, it may be late for you , but it is a good idea to pot mint and then bury the pot - keeps in check its invasive tendencies.

    Are you in the southern hemisphere? Shouldn’t the spring gardening season just get started where you are? –Jai

11. Reena on March 17, 2007 9:48 pm

    Bee, I have lots of Mint, Rosemary and Thyme in my herb garden outside. I am planning to gift some to my neighbors:-)). I planted Blueberries this time. It just needs enough sunlight and water. I would love to have a ‘Curry leaves’ plant but no luck

12. bee on March 17, 2007 9:53 pm

    reena, i miss CA. i could grow anything i wanted, through most of the year. you can order a curry leaf plant online.

13. indosungod on March 18, 2007 5:33 am

    Bee, great post and great ideas, just in time, that reminds me I have to start my seedlings indoors, seeds have came in from the mail order a month ago…

14. InjiPennu on March 18, 2007 11:46 am

    Hmm…bee you are asking for it!

    You mind hosting GBP for Winter(October 07-April 08) or if Indira cant this Summer (April 07 to October 07)?

    Check out the link on my blogs about GBP (Green blog project) to get an idea.

    you have to ask j. it’s his problem. :-)) i’ll gladly ask him for you. - bee

15. InjiPennu on March 18, 2007 4:59 pm

    J has to decide things in your house ?

    no. he decides things about this gardening series. - bee

16. Jen on March 21, 2007 1:58 pm

    I wish I could garden. everything I touch dies. no kidding.

    we used to kill everything as well. overwatering is the main culprit. - bee

17. Manisha on March 24, 2007 4:27 pm

    In my case it is underwatering. Seriously these things need to be watered like twice a week. And I forget. I have killed 3 lucky bamboos (which is really a native grass) in the last month. They had been with me for several years. The water dried up and I didn’t realize it.

    Get yourself one of these and train for a while. All your underwatering problems will go away –Jai

18. Manisha on March 24, 2007 7:48 pm

    Ugh. I detest those things. Besides how will you be able to make fun of me then, huh?

    A tabletop water fountain helps. The plants around the water fountain go just about a week without watering. Others need more maintenance. And those out of sight, even more

    ask your daughter to adopt the plants and water them twice a week. kids love such responsibilities. - b.

19. Manisha on March 26, 2007 11:06 am

    You’re a sweetheart, Bee. But we may be beyond help in this quarter. *I* am watering the weed she picked up - so it will probably die - and my husband is feeding her goldfish.

20. It’s time to grow beautiful things…. | My Gardening Home Blog on April 3, 2007 10:17 am

    [...] jaibee Filed under Gardening News [...]

21. Led Growing on March 18, 2008 12:13 pm

    Awesome post filled with tons of great information. We have awesome growing conditions in CA its a blessing!

22. Pooja on August 12, 2008 9:27 am

    I started growig methi with the instrucitons you have here. Tiny beautiful leaves started appearing 2 days after sowing the sprouted methi seeds.
    I wanted to know if I harvest the leaves from the top will the methi grow back? Or do I just pull the plant out to use and then start another batch. Also can I grow methi indoors during winter?

    just harvest the leaves from the top.