Growing Food in Winter

Since I have digging and dirt and harvesting withdrawals in the winter (I was raised in southern California and Florida), I decided I needed to grow at least some edible things in the Illinois winter.  But instead of building a cold-frame I grow sprouts in my window and lettuce and arugula in the basement under grow lights.  We have fresh salads about 3 times a week that way, and I keep my hands in the dirt.  This is so easy and inexpensive if you buy shop lights and suspend them with chain from a sturdy beam.  Just make sure you get grow lights instead of regular fluorescent bulbs, and you can be growing your own salad makings all year 'round.  Especially good for basement gardens are cut-and-come-again lettuce types, like little gem and speckled trout's back.  You can find these and other heirlooms and organic lettuce types from Baker Creek or Seed Saver's Exchange, among others.  You can see some of my lettuce growing here:

I will cut some of these for a salad and leave them under the lights, watering from the bottom, and they will grow back at least once and often two more times.

Believe it or not, you can also grow lemon and lime trees - my neighbor is even growing a fig tree.  If you plant them in large, but light, pots, you can take these warm weather loving plants out in the spring and bring them back in the house in the fall.  They take minimal work - just watering and misting, and once in a while cleaning the leaves with alcohol to fight off spider mites - but you get the most wonderful citrus flower fragrance when they're blooming and you get to watch the fruit ripen over the winter.  I have a Meyer lemon and a Rangpur lime.  The lime turns orange when it is ripe so these two plants also bring in bright orange and yellow during the monochrome days of winter grey and white.

But if you live in the north and are really jonesing for gardening joy, check out my daughter's blog at organic-gardening-adventures. She lives in Florida and so her garden is growing like crazy while mine is covered in snow and ice, and she regularly posts pictures.