Indoor Garden - First harvest!

Last week I posted that I was growing an indoor lettuce garden. And this week I did my first harvest! Following the tips from others who have the same garden kit on how to properly harvest the lettuce I went with the whole leaf method. On the right you can see the before picture. This shows that the Red Sails (the purple one) and the Black Seeded Simpson leaves were covering up the pod that has yet to fully sprout and the others were also fighting for light. So I cut them down a bit.

You can see here on the left what I kept on the plants after the harvest. I might still trim a few more but this was a start. They say not to take more than a third of the plant at each harvest so that it can recover and grow. The plants are quick growers so I am not too worried. Just have to figure out what to do with my small pile of fresh salad greens. Yes, make a salad is the typical answer for what to make with lettuce. And maybe that is what I will do. Start simple, to get to know the flavors then go more advanced in my salad making or lettuce uses.

It is nice that even while it is snowing outside I can still have my own bit of green and fresh produce. This is a great way to let kids see where food comes from, and grow their own salads and other veggies. Even if you don't get a fancy kit to create your own indoor garden there are other ways to start one. You can take empty food containers and fill with soil and plant seeds, get some small pots, or other recyclable containers, even toilet paper tubes can work for starting seeds. Take the tube, cut four slits on one end to fold over creating a cup, fill it with soil stand them up inside a cleaned food container, getting 4-6 of them in the container depending on size, and place by a window to watch the seeds grow. Remember to water them each day as needed. Enjoy your own indoor garden grow, Meet Me Outdoors.