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There's nothing more comforting than growing and handpicking greens right from your kitchen. However, growing greens indoors is a daunting task, but by following these simple hacks one can simply grow a small yet wonderful greens in the kitchen. Here are four practical ways to turn your kitchen counters into a continuous supply of fresh, leafy greens.

Regrow-from-Base Trick
The absolute easiest way to start growing leafy greens costs nothing and takes zero garden skills. The next time you buy a head of Romaine lettuce, bok choy, or celery, don't throw away the stump. Slice the leaves off about two inches above the base to use for your meal, but save that thick bottom core.Pop the stump base-down into a shallow dish or a wide-mouth jar with just enough water to submerge the bottom half inch. Put it on a sunny windowsill and replace the water every single day to prevent bacteria from building up. Within just a few days, a brand-new cluster of miniature leaves will start pushing out right from the very center of the old core.

Takeout Containers
You don't need to buy expensive ceramic pots or heavy planter boxes to grow loose-leaf lettuce or spinach. Instead, rinse out a plastic salad clamshell container or a shallow plastic takeout tray. Use a pen or knife to poke a handful of small drainage holes through the bottom panel, then sit it inside its own lid to catch any stray drips.
Fill the container with about two inches of standard potting soil and damp it down. Scatter your lettuce seeds across the surface—don't worry about spacing them out perfectly—and cover them with a very thin dusting of loose dirt. Mist it daily with a spray bottle to keep the soil moist. In less than a month, you'll have a dense, messy patch of baby greens ready to cut back with scissors.


Sponge-and-Seed Germination Method
If you struggle with seeds rotting in wet soil before they can even sprout, try starting them in standard cellulose kitchen sponges. Take a clean, unused sponge (without any soap built into it) and soak it thoroughly in water.
Cut deep, shallow slits along the top surface of the sponge and tuck a couple of spinach or kale seeds inside each groove. Place the wet sponge on a saucer in a warm spot. The sponge holds the perfect balance of moisture and air, which triggers the seeds to pop open incredibly fast. Once you see the green sprouts breaking through the sponge texture, you can move the whole setup into a pot of soil or keep feeding it water directly.

Under-Cabinet Grow Light Setup
The biggest hurdle to growing leafy vegetables indoors is that they need a solid five to six hours of light, and typical kitchen windows can be dark or blocked by outdoor structures. If you don't have a bright south-facing windowsill, your greens will quickly grow tall, thin, and floppy as they stretch desperately for light.
You can completely bypass this issue by sticking a cheap, flat LED grow-light bar underneath your upper kitchen cabinets. Put your containers of greens right on the counter directly underneath the light, and plug it into a simple outlet timer set for 12 hours a day. Because LED lights stay cool, they won't heat up your cabinets or scorch the delicate leaves, providing a perfect artificial sun all year round.