Cold Weather Vegetables

When I was in college, I majored in landscape architecture for a while.  In fact, I practically lived in the greenhouse at BYU-Idaho.  If you've ever been to Rexburg during the winter, maybe you'll understand why.  Someday I will have a greenhouse of my own.  Someday... for now I will be sprouting my veggies in south facing windows.

I just really like this photo - the drops of water on the leaves.  We've had a few cold days so I put the heating pad under the tray with the peat pots.  It worked - the black eyed susans finally sprouted! And having the dome over the tray, well, it almost feels like we have a mini rain forest in sitting on our breakfast table. I have to open them up once in a while to prevent mold build up. 

Click on it to see it larger.

These are lettuce sprouts.  Sad to know that several of those sprouts are going to get trimmed down, but only one per pot means bigger heads of lettuce. Besides I don't need that much. I've never grown lettuce before so this is all experimental to me, which I'm not afraid of at all. I do like romaine lettuce and so I do hope it grows into something edible. This is in my second tray that's hanging out in my living room window.

And here is tray # 1 - cold weather plants only.  8 - cabbage. 3 - kohlrabi. 2 pots of red onions.  1 pot of green onions. 6 - black eyed susans.  And I'm really glad that I went ahead and started the black eyed susans. It's been over 2 weeks and they are about a 1/4 inch tall. When should I start the zinnias for my daughter?

And can you see how much snow we got yesterday? Well, we received even more today.  In fact, my thoughtful husband left me the Jeep this morning so I could make sure and get back into the garage after driving to the bus stop.  We've got a very steep driveway.

Do you sprout your own veggies? I figured I could sprout 18 black eyed susans for $10 using the tray with the more expensive dome - although it's reusable all year, peat pots, soil, and seeds.  Or I could buy one pot from the garden center for $8.95.  To me it's worth the effort and challenge.  Especially when I have a 1/2 acre to landscape including my 15x40 foot garden.