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!
I love mushrooms. There’s nothing like some grilled Lobster mushrooms as a side or Lion’s Mane mushrooms cooked in a little olive oil. I’m also not much of a wild mushroom forager. I know people who are really good at it. I’m thankful for those people. It’s just not my favorite activity. If this sounds […]
It seems easy enough. When it comes to natural light vs. artificial light, we all know plants love sunlight. They soak up the sun’s rays and turn them into the energy they use to grow and produce. Photosynthesis is pretty darn cool! Certainly, there was a time when the answer to this question was a […]
Living in the northeast, I don’t take indoor growing of fruits and vegetables that seriously. I consider it more of a hobby than a sustainable source of produce, and maybe even more of a science experiment. Here are some recent examples: “this winter, can I get a crop of cherry tomatoes before spider mites come […]
I love avocados. I also live in New England. That means if I have any hope of plucking ripe avocados from a tree, I need to think about growing avocados indoors. The avocado tree has origins in Central and South America and needs steady day and night temperatures around 70 degrees to thrive. Avocados from […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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.
