I didn't get to planting buckets of salad greens for the light garden in time this fall. Instead, I pulled some herbs and one pot of lettuce indoors to grow during the very coldest part of fall and winter.
Top shelf, the big pot of lettuce. I have yet to harvest any. Perhaps in a week or two, we'll do taco salads with this lettuce.
Middle shelf, I have the herb pots from our grill station, the rosemary, sage, and thyme. I wasn't sure how these thin can pots would do for insulating plant roots in sub-freezing temps. In hopes of keeping these three herbs alive for a second season, I've moved them indoors under the lights. As soon as the temps moderate from this cold snap, I'll move them back to the deck during daytime.
On the bottom shelf I have the cilantro that has been waiting for me to use it in salsa. I didn't have the motivation or energy to make a large batch of salsa earlier. I usually make 2 or 3 batches of salsa using the recipe in this post in August or September, using cilantro from my garden. Fortunately, I planted this cilantro in a pot. It was easy to move under lights that way. I had noticed that it was about to flower, so I knew I had to make a batch of salsa right away. This morning I went to Walmart to pick up milk, eggs, carrots, and bananas, so I also bought 5 large jalapeño peppers.
Oh man, the salsa smells so good. The batch made just just under 8 pints. I'll need to do one more batch in a week or two, when the cilantro has had a chance to grow more leaves. 15 to 16 pints of salsa should do for us until next summer.
So, that's what's growing under the lights this fall. After we use the lettuce, the cilantro bolts, and I move the pots of herbs back out to the deck, I'll give the lights a rest until late January when I start seeds for next spring and summer's garden.
