Growing Vegetables Indoors
82cherry tomato
seed starting
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indoor vegetables
- Indoor Vegetable Gardening
The cold months offer a challenge for the gardener in the southern Great Lakes region. One often overlooked indoor gardening activity is growing vegetables. It can be done, if correct varieties and techniques are used.
the indoor food garden
It is snowing outside and you are craving a few cherry tomatoes to garnish the fresh green salad that you just made. You want it fresh not from the store where the tomatoes and green may have traveled hundreds and thousands of miles before they are offered for sale.
Instead you wander into the living room and pick them fresh just as you cut the greens a few minutes before.
I am not talking about growing hydroponically which is an option but using natural light to keep your family supplied in some fresh produce all year round.
I have grown cherry tomatoes, Camp Joy heritage, indoors and once had a plant that produced tomatoes for 11 months. Mind you in the last 3 months I was getting them one at a time, not really worth the effort but even one fresh ripe tomato on a snowy winter day can make you feel better.
I have grown beans, green peppers, salad greens and miniature egg plant in my living room using only natural light.
The salad green, the cut and come again plants did the best and I feel provide the best return for the effort.
The beans produced a few tasty pick and eat treats but I would need more space to make it worthwhile.
You need at least 6 hours of sunlight and 8 is better if you want to grow vegetables indoors under natural light.
Before you get started you will need to assess the space that you will devote to yoru indoor vegetable garden? Does this space get the sunlight necessary to produce the food (6-8 hours)?
You can use anything for containers as long as it is big enough to allow the plant roots space to grow and you provide sufficient drainage. If you are serious about indoor vegetable gardening, I suggest using containers that allow you to fill them from a hole near the bottom and have a reservoir that holds water. This way the plant roots will grow down towards the water and become stronger, thus enabling a healthy plant to rise up.
Pests, such as white fly and aphids can become problems, so be sure to regularly check your plants and look for signs that something different is taking palce. This way you can intervene before the problem emerges and turns into an infestation.
A spray bottle with soap and water is often all the equipment you need to defeat any attempts to take over yoru garden.
Misting with a hand mister, perhaps, once a week, can help your garden to grow and be sure to avoid crowding the plants to close together in an attempt to increase your yield, the plants need air and this will help control pests and diseases.
So if you can set yourself up a small cut and come again garden composed of yoru favourite salad greens so that you can soemthign that you grew yourself and is guaranteed fresh when you want it.
You can grow a steady supply of greens in a fairly small space and will always have something tasty to add to your sandwiches and salads anytime you wish.
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Comments
Which plants are poisonous to indoor pets?
Bob! Good one. I've grown a couple of tomatoe plants in the house before but nothing else. Will have to give it a go again. Rejoice Bob I saw my first Robin today SPRING IS HERE Yeehaaaa
great hub
regards Zsuzsy
A robin that is great, it is cold minus 13 here plus windy so even colder. I did see a sea gull, which is a sign that the season is changing.
it's lunch time now here so great food it is.
Thanks for this Hub. I love tomatoes and am going to try a small plant indoors this year. I have a six foot wide window in my kitchen that faces south. perfect for a small window ledge garden.
I've read that tomatoes are actually perennial when grown indoors under proper conditions. The just keep on growin' and producin'.
Whats your experience with this?
I have been able to keep cherry tomatoes producing indoors for 8 months.
I never thought of growing vege's inside- great idea!Thanks for the inspiration to try this.
you are welcome
Bob, good information. Audio of my system was defective hence couldn't get answer to few questions comming to my mind. Is it possible to control all types of pests with soap and water? Do you use any chemicals (fertilizers, insecticides or fungicides etc) for indoor cultivation of vegetables? Do you grow season-specific vegetables or any vegetable anytime as indoor vegetables?
Soapand water are very effective as pest control, if you keep a regular watch on your hosueplants, you can usually spot problems before they become too serious. I use no chemicals, a little fish emulsion for fertilizer.
What I grow depends upon the light, if you have a steady source of 6 hours of light per day, then you can grow all year round.
Thanks for the reply, Bob.
Great - thanks for this - I have been wanting to start growing stuff indoors for a while but haven't got started becasue I would prefer a garden.
I love to garden outdoors but the weather does not permit that all year round so.. Thanks for dropping by.
I see the comments about those who have grown tomatoes indoors, and I'd like to know how they fertilized the flowers to grow tomatoes.
I had 3 tomato plants growing in a window box indoors last spring/summer, and unless I fertilized the flowers by hand, they did not produce tomatoes.
How are these people/you getting tomatoes?
I place the plants close to each other and gently shake them when it is time.
Great Hub - I love gardening and growing things unusual - had lemon, mango, grapefruit and Kiwi all grow from seeds from my groceries in the fridge. Never tried tomatoes indoors - I like the idea. There is a variety of container tomatoes that produce small bite size ones - I think I'll give it a go. As for a Cash crop indoors, I'll leave that to hose who are not afraid of crow bar hotel...LOL
you need a good indoor grow op to produce tomatoes for the market indoors. thanks for dropping by.
"I place the plants close to each other and gently shake them when it is time."
This really works? How about other plants that need insects to pollinate them? Will a very sunny window work(sun from 6am to 7pm)?
Sorry to seem so unaware of how to garden but I haven't gardened in about 30 some years. Now I have the time but not the yard to garden. I live in an apartment complex with balcony as well.
Am I on a "Mission: Impossible"? ;)
How much sunlight does the balcony get? A very sunny window an indeed work.
I'm sorry but I goofed in my typing. I live in an apartment complex with NO balcony as well.
To repeat my window qualities: very sunny window work(sun from 6am to 7pm)
The window is 8 ft wide. With side windows that open in the traditional way, and a 4 ft expanse in the middle that does NOT open.
This could be a good garden site. Cherry tomatoes and green could do well.
I'm so glad I happened upon this hub. My family thinks I'm nuts because I want to try indoor gardening. Thanks for the info.
Light is a vital element, thanks for dropping by.
Though I reside quite far south of most that contribute to this thread, we see long cold winters. 7,000 feet high in Arizona poses some challenges to gardeners that may be similar to Canadian climates (though more sun, late frosts and early freezes are regular. As late as mid June and as early as August). I have had zero success with growing anything but houseplants until I made a hoophouse. Now, I can't keep up with my jungle, but indoor (or otherwise controlled growing) is a must to sustain winter here.
Thanks for the tips and such, and I will be sure to share my winter successes (and failures) with you all.
Thanks for dropping by, I look forward to your tales.
This year I started a few plants indoors because the last couple years the grasshoppers ate everything including the chrysanthemums, thanks for info I need it.
You are welcome.
Don't the blooms need to be pollinated?
pollination is necessary stay tuned for a hub sopecifically on how.
Great info for the first time indoor veggie gardener...How do you know when it's time to shake the tomato plants?
a soon to be published hub will answer your questions. Thanks for dropping by.
I wanted to start a vegetable garden indoors. My landlady said when she had her garden in the back yard, the squirrels ate up everything so I figured growing them inside should work. My dilemma is that I don't think that there will be enough natural sunlight to successfully grow the vegetables. What artificial lighting would work best? I am getting in touch with my Cherokee side and incorporating Cherokee ways and customs into my llfe, so growing and making my own food is one way for me to do this. Any help would be appreciated.
Try this http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Choose-the-Best-Lig and thanks for dropping by.
Fabulous hub Bob, I might try growing some indoor veg myself this winter as we have a lounge window with a perfect amount of light coming through on to a two foot granite windowledge. It will mean my evicting the Aloe Vera plant that currently resides there, but hey, I can move that elsewhere instead. Tell me, if the tomato plant gets too tall do you simply top it at a far lower height than normal to avoid it outgrowing the available space?
The cherry tomatoes I have used only get about 3 feet tall so height has not been a problem. You could try topping them if height becomes an issue.
yenseca says:
2 years ago
I've been thinking of getting some seeds from Veseys, but now that ive looked into OSC(Ontario Seed Company) they have more for the Canadian climate. Your Article and video definately helps as a guide especially for us canucks.