I felt discouraged yesterday, as we had a very wintery snow day, and I realized that I couldn’t start my indoor planting of seedlings until March. Not to be deterred, I have decided to grow some salad greens indoors.

It is possible, even in Canada to grow winter crops indoors. (Now I’m not so sure about northern Canada, where the day is shorter in the winter!) Anything is possible with grow lights, but I am not a technology fan, so I will forgo the lights. I will try southern or south-east facing window to maximize my daily light – and possibly move my little salad garden around at the end of the day to catch the western sunset! I will try to remember to move my garden away from the cold windows at night, but I may forget now and then! My windows aren’t too drafty, and should stay above 60 degrees at night!

Along with my already planted herbs and houseplants, I will try to grow a salad mix – cool weather tolerant greens – spinach, arugala, leaf lettuces and chard. Wish me luck!

The key will be to use clean fresh soil, to create a mix of my assorted salad seeds, and sowing them weekly in small quantities for a few weeks through the rest of the winter. These small leafy salad plants grow quickly, but should be well spread out in the pot, and not overly watered to avoid damping off. I am experimenting with sprinkling some cinnamon over the soil, as a natural fungicide.

Do any other gardeners have experience with growing greens indoors without grow lights, and have you tried cinnamon for damping off?