Indoor Gardening – Seeds to Sprouts in 5 Days or Less

One of the things I’ve been struggling with during this whole remodel process is the fact that I just can’t go outside and garden anytime I feel like it. And it’s starting to wear on my nerves. I’m getting cranky. Really, really, cranky.

For starters, it’s fall, which means the daylight hours for working outside are pretty limited to begin with. Basically, if I can’t get my garden chores done between 8 am and 4 pm they’re not going to get done.

Which wouldn’t be a problem under normal circumstances because I could just put them off to the next day, but I don’t have that luxury right now. When the workers are here I have to keep Lucy upstairs in the office with me {while I work on the blog}, or take her to doggy day care so I can help out with the remodel downstairs, and usually those are during daylight hours.

But even on the days when the workers aren’t here, getting outside to garden is a struggle as well. The whole house is torn up right now and Lucy can’t really roam around or watch me from the windows for more than 5 minutes at a time without getting into some sort of puggle trouble. Plus, there’s no where for her to lounge. We have no couches!! Yet, my list of garden chores keeps growing, and nothing is getting checked off the list.

So this morning I decided to start some sprouts, indoors, on my new kitchen windowsill. Sure the window area not be trimmed out and put together yet, but I felt like if I didn’t do something garden related, I would majorly freak out. {Deep breath.} In doing so, I unknowingly made a few menu plan decisions for this week as well. {High five!}

So this week I’m growing mung bean sprouts for our favorite stir fry dish, alfalfa sprouts for an egg salad sandwich, and sprouted garbanzo beans for a broccoli rabb and bacon dish. The cook top should be hooked up tomorrow and if not, I’ll just whip up the recipes in the electric skillet.

If you’ve never sprouted seeds before, it’s ridiculously easy. Simply soak your seeds in water overnight {about 8 to 12 hours} and then place them in your sprouting container. Rinse at least twice daily until sprouts have reached the length you desire {about 5 days for me}. I’ll share my progress each afternoon this week so you can see just how easy this whole sprouting thing is.

Garden therapy, I think we could all use a little right now. 😉

How about YOU? Are you into sprouts?

~Mavis

P.S. Most companies suggest that before you actually start your sprouts, to disinfect the seeds by placing them in a mixture of 2% bleach solution {1 cup water to 1tsp. bleach} for 15 minutes.  From there you simply rinse the seeds thoroughly and you are ready to go.