ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Growing Vegetables Indoors

Updated on March 9, 2017
Bob Ewing profile image

Bob is a permaculture designer and garden writer. His ebook, From My Garden, is widely available.

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 eggplant 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.



Seed Starting

Indoors

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 your 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 place. This way you can intervene before the problem emerges and turns into an infestation.


A spray bottle with an organic soap and water is often all the equipment you need to defeat any attempts to take over your 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 your favourite salad greens so that you can something 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.


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)