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!
One of the fun choices we get to make when we plant container gardens is picking out the container. Don’t get me wrong; I also love choosing new varieties of vegetables and which tools I might need. But there’s a certain aesthetic pleasure in finding that perfect pot. Often though, I’m left trying to decide […]
I love smoothies. And if you live in a warm enough place and have enough outdoor space, you can pretty easily grow a smoothie garden with all the fruits and veggies you want. If you don’t live in a lush, tropical garden, however, you might think you need to settle for picking up your smoothies […]
You’re right. Growing root vegetables indoors isn’t exactly on the cover of Garden Glamour magazine. (I just made that up. It’s not a real magazine. But if it was, indoor root veggies probably wouldn’t be on the cover.) Sure, you’ve got your ornamental kale, your hydroponic leaf lettuce, and your indoor herb garden. I’m all for those, especially since I live in New England and can’t grow vegetables outdoors in the winter.
I love birthdays, holidays, special occasions, celebrations, dinner parties, and pretty much any other reason to enjoy a time of celebrating with friends or family members. The only issue is that it sometimes feels challenging to come up with the right gift to share. Enter the hand-curated indoor herb garden gift set. Not to sound […]
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.
One of the reasons I love to grow lettuce is that it can withstand some pretty cool temperatures and the shorter days of fall here in the northeast. It also grows quickly, meaning there’s less time for my lettuce patch to run into problems with diseases. There is one exception, though: lettuce downy mildew. If […]
Living in New England, my outdoor garden slows to a halt by late September. I used to get sad thinking about how long I’d have to wait before growing another crop of fresh tomatoes and peppers. (Is there anything worse than a grocery store tomato in January?) Then I decided I would try my hand at indoor growing, so I could enjoy fresh tomatoes and peppers all year long.
Figuring out how to regulate humidity indoors can sometimes feel like a hopeless venture. Just when you get it right, someone opens the front door, and the whole indoor atmosphere changes. Or here in New England, one day can be 70 and sunny, and the next is 48 and windy. If I didn’t care about […]
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.
Yes, I know. Kids and vegetables don’t have a reputation for being on speaking terms. And now here we are adding the word “tasty” to the idea of indoor plant growing kits. I get it. There are definitely some vegetables that you can file in the “acquired taste” category.
