Have you had your salad today?
I am a huge fan of salads – especially when made with greens grown in my own backyard! I LOVE the flavors, textures and especially the bright bold colors of a garden fresh salad.
Think a salad is boring? Not so! There are a million different ways to make a salad interesting. Some of my favorite salad combos are kale, apple, cranberry; mixed greens, BBQ chicken, garden fresh tomatoes, black bean, corn & avacado; or microgreens, nasturtium leaves, flowers, raisins and feta cheese. The possibilities are literally endless!
One of my 2017 goals is to eat a salad-a-day, and I’d like to challenge you to join me in adopting this tasty nutritious habit!
Eating a large amount of fresh, raw vegetables every day has a myriad of health benefits. A salad-a-day habit can is a natural source of fiber, helps with weight control, has a positive effect on blood sugar, and increases the powerful antioxidants in your body, just to name a few.
Not only is eating a salad-a-day one of the healthiest habits you can adopt, it is also one of the simplest, especially when you grow your own salad greens.
Many of you have started growing your indoor garden along with me on the “Growing Your Indoor Garden” series. You are having fun growing microgreens and sprouts indoors during the cold weather months.
Another super easy crop to grow indoors is salad greens! With some seeds – I love MIgardener’s 99 cent seed packs – (get 10% off at migardener.com/calikim29) – soil and a simple grow light set up, (don’t panic, I’ll show you exactly how to do this in my video below) you can easily grow your own crop on indoor salad greens in 4-6 weeks to feed your salad-a-day habit! AND if you haven’t yet, sign up at the top of this blog post to get a free growing guide that I’ve prepared just for you, “Grow 3 Veggies in 6 Weeks“. Everything you need to know to grow lettuce is included in this freebie to make it easier for you to make a salad-a-day your own healthy habit!
Although I love all leafy greens, some of my favorite varieties are Red Russian Kale, Ruby Red Leaf, Black Seeded Simpson (heat tolerant) and Mizuna Mustard Greens. Watch the video from my YouTube channel below “How to Grow Salad Greens Indoors” to see exactly how to do it.
Join me in growing your greens, indoors and out and eating a salad-a-day in 2017. We’ll share recipes, tips, and easy prep ideas here on my blog, my YouTube channel, Instagram and on my Facebook page, so make sure to follow me everywhere so you don’t miss anything! Oh, and don’t forget your freebie at the top of this blog post!
Comment below and let me know if you are you in – can’t wait to eat a salad-a-day with you!
CaliKim’s eBook “Growing 5 Warm Weather Veggies Made Easy” * CaliKim’s Amazon Gardening Store Front * CaliKim’s Garden Coloring Book *
You can follow me, view how-to videos, photos of my garden, and lots of growing tips and tricks, on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest
Hi Kim, I was raised in a family who always grew our own fruits and vegetables and my husband and I have been gardening for years. We have dozens of fruit trees and have been expanding our vegetable garden. We enjoy your videos and have learned so much. You have encouraged us to start with seeds which has been a bit of a challenge, but we are starting to have success. We too live in Southern California, please keep the wonderful and informative videos coming. Thanks so much, Andi from Redlands.
Hello Andi – what a wonderful experience to be raised with a family who loves to grow their own food. And what a joy to now be able to garden and have so many fruit trees. Starting from seeds definitely takes patience! I love it because it opens up a whole new world of varieties, colors and flavors that I can never find in transplants in the garden center. Thank you for sharing how you are learning, it encourages me to hear that you are having success! Please keep me posted on how your garden does this year.
Will do. All this rain is great but my little green children are taking a beating.
We have our own version of a salad a day. Every morning we eat egg whites with garden fresh veggies. Lots of greens, carrots, garlic, basil, sprouts, etc. So delicious!
Thanks for the butternut squash chili recipe, it’s a family favorite at our house.
Andi
Hello Andi, oh this is one of my favorite ways to eat eggs – pile on the microgreens and anything I can find from the garden! Such a yummy way to start the day. Glad you love the butternut chili too, it is one of our fav’s as well. Appreciate you stopping by to let me know!
Hi Kim,
Love your videos! I live in the Northeast so winters are long and your videos are inspiring. We manage two unheated greenhouses and a couple of outdoor gardens here and I think I keep my sanity during the winters by starting seeds indoors. After viewing your video on micro greens I decided to give it a try. They turned out very good and I’m about to start a second round. Thanks so much for all the great information you put out. Would love to see some future spots on plant pests or diseases.
Hello Jane,
Ah, those long Northwest winters…Glad to hear that you are getting your garden fix by growing in your greenhouses and growing microgreens indoors! They’re super easy, so delicious and it’s fun to try different seeds to see which ones you like best. We LOVE them on omelettes, how do you like them? Thanks for your support and feedback! We are actually looking at doing a series on solving common garden problems, so will put your suggestion on the list.
Commented earlier and forgot to add this. I also wanted you to know that after watching your video last year on planting in moveable containers I decided to try lettuce in a large pot on my deck as I could move it into the shade during the hottest part of the day. What great success I had with that! So thank you. I have started a pot of lettuce inside now and have it under grow lights. Hoping, hoping….
Hello Jane, perfect! It does the trick and is a great way to keep those lettuce greens going for as long as possible during the hot weather. Keep me posted on your indoor greens….
Hey Kim! I grew a flat of greens this winter. I’m getting ready to make 2 more salads for my husband and I from my 4th cutting! I just took several different kinds of ‘greens’ seeds, spread them over the soil in the flat, barely covered with soil, put them under a grow light, and when they were 4 to 5 inches high I started cutting them like you showed CG doing in one of your videos. How satisfying is that?! Thanks for your encouragement to grow your own greens. I’m in on the salad a day, also. Hubby wants to lose a few pounds, so he is in, too!
Hello Kathy, I’m so proud of you and hubby for starting this wonderful healthy habit – it’s so energizing! We’ve found that if we miss our salad, we are craving it. Healthy food does that to a body, and yes, so satisfying to grow your own. Keep me posted on your salad garden!
Kim, love your videos. Do you have one on mixing your own seed starting mix?
Hi Annie, funny you ask, this is on my list of videos to film in the next few weeks, so stay tuned! It’s super easy and you can save a lot of money by making your own! Glad you like my videos, thanks for stopping by to say hello on the blog!