Winter Therapy: Growing Sprouts Indoors

When the seed catalogs on my desk are stacked as deeply as the fresh fallen snow on my driveway, my green thumb starts to itch.

It is too early to start seedlings for the vegetable garden but not too early to grow edible sprouts. In fact, edible sprouts can be grown year round, anytime, anywhere, and a crop may be harvested in 3-to-5 days.

Sprouting is the practice of soaking, draining, and rinsing seeds at regular intervals until they germinate or sprout. About all that is needed is a quart jar, cheesecloth, and a rubber band to secure the cheesecloth over the mouth of the jar. More glamorous sprouting kits, and organic seed, may be purchased at local garden stores or from assorted sellers on Amazon.com.