The Indoor Garden

So, work has become very hectic with the holidays fast-approaching in the retail world. Working at Apple with only a week until Christmas has proven to be one crazed whirlwind affair so far! It is stressful at times since there are probably 300 customers within a store that is no bigger than my kitchen and living room combined. That being said, I would not want to work in any other mall store for the holidays! Each coworker that I work alongside of is very friendly and helpful no matter how crazy it gets, and most of us act like silly high school kids when we have free time. So, that was my intro into saying that I've been so busy that I haven't gotten to post about my seedlings that I started!

So, you got to see my chickpeas that I started. Well, since then, they have sprouted quite well and are already quite leafy! Here is a small progression of their growth in the past few weeks.

Also, I have added mung beans to my repertoire in my indoor kitchen greenhouse. I bought just bulk mung beans from the local Whole Foods market, a supermarket that prides themselves on all-organic products (though I believe that organic products do not have to be as expensive as they are there; I think they know that they can mark up their products because they market themselves as totally organic and some people will pay through the nose to get organic products...I could go on and on about this...I'll stop). So, here is what has been happening with my bean sprouts!

I used a large yogurt cup and some napkins as the growing container.

I soaked the mung beans overnight to help the beans shed their outer coat.

Before and after soaking.

The bottom of the yogurt cup had holes poked into it to allow drainage and then a wet napkin was used as a filter and rooting medium to keep conditions moist and humid. I then covered with cling film and placed the beans in a cool and dark room.

Day 3

Day 5

Today - day 14

 Every day or so, I rinse the mung bean sprouts so keep them moist and I make sure that the container is well-drained before I leave it so that mildew doesn't set in. I have moved them out into a bit of light to see if they will get a bit meatier so I can eat them with salads and pho.

In the other room, I have moved the cuttings of rosemary that my grandmother gave me into pots since they have finally begun to root. 

The rosemary and the oh-so-professional rooting technique of sticking 'em in water
and leaving 'em on the kitchen counter.

Some of the roots on the rosemary. I stripped the leaves off up to where the roots were and potted the cuttings. The leaves went into a delicious rosemary chicken recipe.

2 cuttings started, interspersed with mung beans (I want to make my own mung beans for sprouts next year)

 So that is an update on the plants I have started. Sadly, the update on the potato is that it has been unceremoniously chucked out back into the cold, unforgiving winter climate. I didn't start the potato properly so it was getting leggy up top instead of growing downwards, but mostly it was attracting fungus gnats badly. I have another potato sitting out, waiting to grow sprouts from its eyes. I may start it in a trash can later this year where it will have much more room to grow!

Soon to come, I am working on mistletoe and some of the herbs of Christmas lore! If anyone knows of Hanukkah herbs, Kwanzaa herbs, and so forth, pass them along! I have had no luck finding many that aren't Christian-related! Taking suggestions on the next herb after that. Thinking chamomile, basil, mugwort, anything really. The sky's the limit!