Even though it’s the middle of winter, there are plenty of gardening activities that we can do indoors! Throughout the winter I’ve been running programs with Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) and Belmont Village Senior Living. Both youth and seniors get so much enjoyment out of gardening activities, even when it’s too cold to go outside.

At Belmont Village, the seniors enjoy sprouting microgreens and making delicious snacks. We grow a regular rotation of a “superfood microgreen blend” with broccoli, radish, purple kohlrabi, collard, and turnip sprouts. These sprouts only take two weeks to grow! Then we harvest and place them on crackers with cheese spread or hummus. We’ve also grown cilantro, pea, and sunflower sprouts during the winter. Microgreens grow best when placed under a grow light, so they’re a perfect indoor activity.

The youth at CYC also love sprouting microgreens, and we make it extra fun by adding faces to their seed cups! They have so much fun watering seeds and taking care of their sprouts 🙂 They’re also fascinated that they can see the roots through the clear cups!