Peter Burke’s book: Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening has served as a bible of sorts throughout my #WinterGrowingChallenge. I found it amongst the reference books in the library at Johnny’s Selected Seeds and borrowed it for my project.
Note: In case you missed it, you can check out the #WinterGrowingChallenge to learn more about what it is, and why I did it.
Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening is a simple and straight-forward guide to growing fresh greens. Burke breaks down the process so that it’s easy for all skill-levels to follow, and implement his methods for themselves. He delves first into how he discovered soil-shoots and why he grows them─siting many of the same 13 reasons I’ve given for my own #WinterGrowingChallenge. He lays out the process in a step-by-step depiction that walks the reader through the production, from soil and seed to shoots on a plate.
Having used this method for years to provide fresh, leafy greens for his own family, Burke has streamlined the process and really honed the craft for household production. He’s truly dedicated to the nutrient-packed shoots, and to the rewards of providing these fresh greens for your family at a time of year when fresh greens are difficult to come by.
After using Burke’s methods for indoor salad production over the course of this winter, I can attest to the simplicity and practicality of his soil-shoots. Following Peter Burke’s instructions as laid out in his book, I was able to produce fresh greens to supplement my family’s diet between the months of December and January.
Gardening and growing my own food, or knowing who grew it, has become an important part of my life, and I know I’m not alone in my desire to live a more sustainable and self-sufficient life. If you listen closely, you will hear a low rumbling around the world that is the sound of people from all walks of life returning to a more grounded way of living. I’m proud to be a part of that movement, and you can be too─with one small step, one day at a time─we can all learn to be more self-reliant, more resourceful and less wasteful. We can learn to be conscious of the natural world around us, and part of the greater systems in action on this Earth.
Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening, by Peter Burke is a great addition to your homestead or farm’s resource library. This book has inspired me to grow shoots every winter from now on!
