Grow a Simple Holiday Gift

It's unusual, beautiful, thoughtful, handmade and a simple pleasure to create. And it's good enough to eat. The recipient of your colander salad garden may be reluctant to harvest it, but snipping the flowers and trimming the greens is just what's needed to keep a colander salad garden growing during the winter months.

First, choose a colander. New or antique, colanders come in a variety of colors and styles. Speckled enamelware comes in red, white, blue and green. Metal colanders are usually stainless steel or copper. The patterns used for the holes are endless. (For this gift, colanders made from metal screen fabric won't work.) The bigger the colander, the more salad it'll grow. A colander with handles makes it easy to carry the entire garden to the kitchen sink for a drink. Left in the sink for a few moments, it'll drain easily without creating a mess.

The holes in the colander allow the soil to drain well when watered and allows the soil to breathe. If the individual holes in the colander are bigger than 1/8-inch, you'll need to line it before you add soil. Be imaginative. This part can be fun and will get you outdoors for a treasure hunt. Look for bird nests that have fallen out of trees. Nests made from horsehair, strands of bark, or small twigs are ideal. Gather handfuls of long pine needles or leaves that are long and slender like those from a willow tree. Look for moss. It can be found hanging from trees in a forested area. Bring into the warmth of your home colorful lichens. After they're dried out, crumple them with your hands. Lichens will show their brilliant colors through the holes of the colander. Using a pair of scissors, snip the stalks of tall weeds and weave a liner as you add soil.

Choose food-quality soil that is healthy. Organic soil is your safest bet. Remember learning two years ago that several varieties of potting soil contained vermiculite contaminated with asbestos that was easily airborne when handled by human hands? Since it is not required to label asbestos content of potting soils, look for alternatives to vermiculite or use premixed potting soil, which is less likely to create dust.

If harvesting soil with a shovel outside isn't possible, call your local garden store to ask if they carry Black Gold All Organic Potting Soil or search the web for a location near you. More and more garden stores are now carrying organic fertilizers. Remember, a little goes a long way. Follow the instructions. It's easy to think more is better, but with fertilizers, you can easily overdo it.

If you grew a garden last summer, you probably have some leftover seeds. This is a good use for those soon-to-be outdated seeds. (Check with a few of your gardening friends; they probably have leftover seeds they'd be happy to share.) There are many varieties of seeds that work in a colander garden. Try any of the red leaf lettuces, mustards, kales, mizuna, tat soi, cress or arugula. For edible flowers, sow seeds of the pansy, viola or nasturtium. Two good sources for organic seeds are Territorial Seed Company (541-942-9547, www.territorial-seed.com) and Johnny's Selected Seeds (877-564-6697, www.johnnyseeds.com).

If you have to buy packets of seed for this project, give the remainder of the seeds left in the packet to your recipient as part of your holiday present.

Mix the seeds you have selected together until you have a spoonful. Sprinkle them uniformly on top of your moistened soil. Cover the seeds with no more than 1/8-inch soil. Next, place a plate or skillet lid on top of the colander. Clear glass allows you to watch your garden grow. As soon as the seeds have sprouted, remove the cover and give them some fresh air. Depending on the seeds you select, this will take anywhere from 7 to 14 days. Don't let the soil dry out while the seeds are still sprouting. As with any garden, some amount of thinning may be required. Pull unwanted sprouts, wash the dirt off their roots and toss them into a salad or use them to garnish a sandwich.

Set the colander in a spot where the plants will receive bright light as direct as possible.

Your colander garden will be ready as a gift at any stage of its growth. Add a festive ribbon and proudly deliver your version of a holiday salad.