Wartime No-Soil Windowsill Gardening

Back to the government-produced films from World War 2 about food and nutrition that I watched over the weekend . . .

Mrs. T. and family, breakfast which includes a dish of homegrown cress

I saw this in a couple of different films produced by the Ministry of Food in the British government. They recommended families grow cress in shallow dishes or plates on their kitchen windowsills in their homes and flats. I assume they were referring to garden cress and not watercress, as that was the only type of cress I could find info on for indoor growing without soil, as it appeared was done for these films. Here's one short film that momentarily mentions growing cress.

Mrs. T. and Her Cabbage Patch

Cress (both garden and water) are good sources of vitamin C, providing about 39% of an adults daily requirement (per healthline.com) of vitamin C in 1 cup of cress. As England's shipping was cut off from many of their food imports during the war, traditional vitamin C rich foods (citrus, especially) were unavailable on a regular basis. Anytime fruits like oranges could be gotten in Britain, they were restricted to use for children. Growing ones own cress at home, even when you didn't have a garden, gave families a source of vitamin C on a daily basis.

For today's household, I see two issues for growing cress on the windowsill: 1) inexpensive sources for a large quantity of cress seeds, and 2) cress is a cruciferous vegetable (cabbage family) which are associated with goitrogens, which for folks with thyroid issues, might be advised against consumption of this vegetable in its raw state. In regards to issue 1 (seed availability), at the bottom of the health line article, the author suggests watercress as an alternative to garden cress as a source of vitamin C. Watercress, however, is also a goitrogen. To note, cooking and fermenting cress or other cruciferous vegetables deactivates goitrogens. (Functional Nutrition Answers.com)

If you happen to have a source of either watercress or garden cress seeds, you can grow the cress on plates lined with damp paper toweling. Here's an article with instructions for growing cress indoors on a paper towel.

finished lentil sprouts, stored in a tea towel-lined plastic container in the fridge

For those of us without an ample and cheap supply of watercress or garden cress seeds for indoor growing, here's a budget-wise alternative for indoor growing, lentil sprouts. Lentil sprouts are not as high in vitamin C, with 14% of an adults daily requirement in 1 cup of sprouts. The awesome thing about growing lentil sprouts, though, is ordinary, grocery store bagged dry lentils can be used as the "seeds". If you're interested in trying to grow these sprouts, I detail how I do these in this post.

slaw type salad with lentil sprouts

How do I use the lentil sprouts? I add them to salads. I add them to sandwiches as I would lettuce of other fresh vegetable. I make a slaw type salad with them, using a mayo, vinegar, sugar, and salt dressing. 

lentil sprouts marinated for a couple of hours in bread and butter pickles juice leftover when a jar of pickles was finished

And I marinate them in leftover sweet pickle juice to eat as is -- make a great afternoon snack for me.

Anyway, I think the idea to grow cress on the windowsill was for even city dwellers to produce some of their own nutrient-dense, fresh food to ease the tight supplies across the country during the war.

Planning for Fall and Winter Harvests in My Seattle-Area Garden

One drawback to keeping a vegetable garden is that I always have to be thinking about what's around the corner. This sometimes prevents me from just existing in the moment and thoroughly enjoying what is growing. What I mean is not only do I feel like I have to anticipate trouble ahead (pests, weather changes, etc), but I also have to plan the planting for harvests 2 months down the road. 

We may be in the dogs days of summer still, but I am thinking about what vegetables I need to plant for our fall and early winter harvests. Vegetables that continue to grow into the early fall months in my area are all leafy greens. A few weeks ago, I began the Tuscan and curly leaf kales. I transplanted the seedlings into a couple of large troughs on the deck. I also began a second set of lettuce in a variety of pots on the deck. The hanging salad baskets where I grow lettuce in spring through early summer get too hot for lettuce in mid to late-summer. So,  I gathered up a bunch of different pots and planted lettuce seeds in those. Yesterday I used a pencil to wiggle and tease bunches of lettuce seedlings apart and separate them into additional pots. I also began several cells of spinach this week. I'll move these down to the garden in early August when the bulk of the heat is behind us in my area. (We are right now in the historically hottest 2 weeks of summer.) As I mentioned last week, I have a packet of seeds for lamb's lettuce/mache/corn salad. In the next week, I'll begin those seeds with plans to transplant to the garden around the first of September. The spot where the garlic will come out in mid-August will be worked for transplanting the lamb's lettuce. Lamb's lettuce likes cool weather and will grow in early fall then hold in the garden all winter and will come back in early spring. 

So that's what's keeping me busy these days. What's going on in your world?