Gardening Indoors

I know that some of you live in the parts of the world where it's warm now (you know who you are), but here in Chicago it's pretty cold right now, and there's snow on the ground.

I love the change of seasons, and I wouldn't want to go without winter, but even so, there are days when I'd still like to have a bit of green. I'm not much of a gardener even in the summer, but despite the fact that I'm not particularly successful at growing things, and I would never take on something as involved as a cold frame (okay, it would be involved for someone like me), I still love plants.

Right now I only have 3 plants in my house, a viola given to me by a friend and my 2 Christmas poinsettias. But I have a copy of Don't Throw It, Grow It!: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps so when things begin to get dreary here after the holidays, I might try some of the book's suggestions. It's a book about growing plants from our food. When I was a kid, we tried sweet potatoes, avocados and pineapples. Those are in this book along with instructions for growing lots of others (carrots, papayas, dill, persimmons, ginger, almonds...). Even if I have limited success and never get to eat anything I grow, it will still be fun to try.

I will have green! Yes!