Category: Indoor Gardening

In the articles below, learn everything you need to know about indoor gardening, including growing herbs, using grow lights, hydroponic gardening, and more.

There are more than a few secrets to getting your food to grow indoors no matter what part of the year it is. Well-drained soil, plenty of light (even grow lights), and the right amounts of water are crucial to the success of indoor gardening. The general “rules” of container gardening apply here, too. Make sure the container is deep enough for the plant, use fresh potting mix, and make sure the container has a drainage hole.

Again, this is all simple enough in the summer. Your plants sit by the open windows and enjoy a nice breeze while they bask in the sunlight. But let’s talk about winter. How can you get food to grow indoors without that lovely breeze or the open windows or the 12 hours of sunshine? Light, indoor varieties, and warmth. Sometimes, also humidity. A hydroponic garden can truly thrive in a dry winter with a mister.

Hydroponic gardens are a whole separate beast of indoor gardening, but they are a wonderful thing if you love fresh produce. Depending on your system, soil may not even be needed, and you can grow a compact food garden right in your living room without any mess. For those who take a more disciplined approach, closed system hydroponics could be the right solution for growing an indoor garden. Or, if you simply don’t want to give up fresh produce in the winter, it’s great too!

In the articles below, we share everything you need to know about indoor gardening. And you can learn even more about it in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Needs to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!

Categories
Indoor Gardening

3 Types of Light for Growing Plants Indoors

light for growing plants
Lettuce under grow lights.

Although I don’t always feel like it before I’ve had some caffeine in the morning, physiologically speaking, I am human. No surprise there. And I spend most of my awake time in light of some kind, whether that’s sunlight or the soft light of the bulb in my reading lamp or those dreadful fluorescent lights in the grocery store. Plants, on the other hand, need more than just the light from my cozy lamp or a candlelit dinner to thrive. Of all the possibilities, sunlight is the best kind of light for growing plants.

Categories
Indoor Gardening

The Best Hydroponic System for Vegetables and Herbs

As someone who loves to cook and does it a bit for a living, I always need fresh ingredients, especially herbs. With so many lettuce recalls in the last few years, I’ve also gotten wary about purchasing store-bought lettuce. It was these two things that led me to seek out a way to start gardening indoors during the winter, and how I discovered the best hydroponic system for vegetables and herbs.

Categories
Indoor Gardening

All About Planting and Growing Ginger Indoors

Remember that piece of ginger root that sat on your shelf for too long and started growing little sprouts? Yes, the one you threw into the compost bin? That should be proof enough that growing ginger indoors is about as easy as it gets. 

Categories
Indoor Gardening

3 Different Types of Gardening Lights for Better Indoor Gardens

Seedlings under indoor garden lights.

When I first started gardening, I never expected that gardening lights would be something I’d consider. People have planted gardens for thousands of years without any lighting other than the sun. Even houseplants can thrive with just the sunlight coming through the windows.

Categories
Indoor Gardening

5 of the Best Container Fruit Trees to Grow Inside the Home

There are many reasons to consider growing fruit trees indoors. For me, it all boils down to control. With container fruit trees, like container vegetable gardens, you have total control over watering, pruning, sunlight and location, can make all the difference in a fruit tree’s yield. While it’s certainly possible to grow a fruit tree from seed, you’ll have better luck and a faster yield of fruit by purchasing a seedling. 

Categories
Indoor Gardening

How Closed System Hydroponics Work (and Is It a Good Fit For You?)

If there’s one thing I can say about gardeners, it’s that we have some very different ideas of what it means to grow vegetables. Some of us take a very scientific and organized approach. Others of us are just happy to get some warm soil in our hands and hope for the best with whatever those seeds were we just tossed in the ground.

Categories
Indoor Gardening

An Intro to Growing Herbs and Vegetables Indoors

Are you suffering from garden woes? Do you have a small yard with no garden space? Live in an apartment and can’t grow outdoors? Want to grow herbs and veggies all year long instead of just half of the year? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then growing herbs and vegetables indoors is the answer to your gardening prayers.

Categories
Indoor Gardening

How to Get Food to Grow Indoors and Stay Alive All Winter

Summer is heaven for gardeners. The flowers are all in bloom, the tomatoes are ripening on the vine, we have enough hot peppers to make salsa for an entire year. We can even get food to grow indoors on a sunny windowsill – small pots of our favorite herbs, a few containers of lettuces, and those tasty cherry tomatoes. 

Categories
Indoor Gardening

The Best Vegetables to Grow in a Greenhouse

Small greenhouse

I admit it. I’m wrong. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of a greenhouse is the kind you see on farms or at a big flower shop. They’re big enough to live in! They’re certainly bigger than my first apartment was. So naturally, when I think about tackling the subject of the best vegetables to grow in a greenhouse, my immediate response was, well, what wouldn’t I grow in a greenhouse.

Categories
Indoor Gardening

Why Growing Hydroponic Produce is Beneficial for Home Chefs

I’m going to guess you might be a little surprised to find Disney World mentioned in the first sentence of a post about hydroponic produce. The theme park and entertainment empire are much better known for princesses, anthropomorphic mice, and the live-action movie version of Mulan, which I thought was an okay movie. However, there are plenty of reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes who very much disagree with me.