Indoor Vegetable Gardening - Home Indoor Gardening For Anyone

"How do I start indoor vegetable gardening?"
Probably the most common question when you "itch" to dig in the dirt but lack outdoor space. Think of it like this. Indoor vegetable gardening is actually gardening vegetables with containers inside your home.

Okay, you can't have an entire garden in your house! First pick the vegetables YOU want to raise. Isn't that cool? You get to decide! You're the designer. Get those creative juices flowing.

For your indoor garden adventure, consider growing vegetables needing minimal space. Radishes, several types of lettuce, carrots, or a variety of herbs are some good choices.

Another option...small fruit bearing plants, like tomatoes and peppers. I've seen several newer varieties of tomato plants specifically developed for container gardening offered this year that would be fun to try for your vegetable garden indoors.

There are many types of peppers. I've tried quite a few. No hands down winners but banana peppers seemed most useful for our family menus. My best advice is pick something you'd love to incorporate into your meals rather than something exotic to your taste in foods.

Maybe take your first plunge at indoor gardening growing herbs. Herbs are a lot less demanding than growing vegetables indoors. Consider chives, garlic chives, dill, parsley, mint, cilantro and basil for a super start to grow your own indoor kitchen herb garden.

Your enthusiasm can quickly get you carried away! You don't want to take a drink with a fire hose on your first effort. In other words, make a list. Then narrow it down.

Otherwise, you WILL end up with an entire garden in your living room! Try looking around at what's in your kitchen pantry and fridge. Growing what you already buy is a real moneysaver.

Once you have your list, you need seeds! Or, maybe you'd rather buy the plant, say a tomato plant. It's sort of a head start and offers some immediate gratification of your longings to garden! (Psst, I'm a sucker for buying tomato plants!)

Go online to seed catalog companies. They're also a great resource for "days to harvest" for each vegetable. The information they provide can help with deciding your selection of vegetable or herbs to raise in your garden.

Local garden and produce markets often stock seed as well. We have a little produce market that stocks seeds in jars! I just love looking through and getting my own 'sack' of seeds.

Local farmers markets, online garden stores or sometimes flea markets are sources for transplants to get a quicker start raising your garden vegetables and herbs indoors.

Light is the lifeblood of those seedlings when you garden vegetable indoors. Choosing a bright sunny south facing window (or windowsill) will give them the best chance at getting adequate intensity and hours of light.

Most plantings need 12-14 hours of light to produce enough food for strong stems and leaves. Otherwise they get a little leggy and spindly, which is not a good sign in the gardening arena. Fortunately, root crops and leaf producing crops need less direct sunlight.

No worries though if you don't have a south facing window...I don't either. You can supplement with grow lights!

There are also some handy tips to increase the intensity of the light coming through your window. For instance, wrap a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and stick it into the back of a container. That enhances the available light through reflection off the foil. It's a simple and low cost solution.

I love growing tomatoes...a vegetable worth growing indoors and outdoors! Some of the new varieties are perfect for pots and hanging baskets.

Tomato growing can be tricky. Learning from others mistakes to reap tasty tomatoes every time is my best advice.

There is nothing worse than seeing a tomato blossom grow into a green tomato. Then something happens. It never ripens...or the blossom dries up and falls off! You're left hanging to wonder what you did or didn't do for your poor plant.

My one recommendation for tomato growers everywhere, whether growing these vegetables indoors or out on the patio is a resource called "How to Grow Juicy Tasty Tomatoes". I learn better with visual images so I looove lots of photos. Written by an advisor to the commercial tomato growing industry, it has over 260 photos! Yeah! The book comes in hard copy as well as ebook, a choice not often available these days. There are even special pages for growing these gems in baskets and pots. The tips and shortcuts are worth the investment just in the time you save in trial and error to produce your tomatoes to harvest!

Indoor vegetable gardeners frequently take the initial plunge by opting to raise herbs before going full tilt into growing vegetables. Chives are a popular choice. A member of the onion family, its leaves grow from a clump. Chives plants become stronger and bushier the more often you cut its leaves.

What to do with the cuttings you can't use? Freeze dry them and retain most of their flavor. Here are the 3 short steps to keep your pantry well stocked with your chives bounty.

1. Chop the chives leaves and spread on a cookie sheet.

2. Pop the uncovered cookie sheet into your freezer.

3. As the moisture evaporates, the chopped chives will become dry and brittle at which time place them in a clean glass jar (a spice jar works well), cover tightly.

By storing your filled jar in a cool, dark location, you'll enjoy the chives herb for up to 6 months. It's a great way to gift someone special from your herb garden harvest, too. Be sure to set some out for garnish for dinner guests to reap the rewards of being able to pronounce, "These are from my indoor herb garden!"


Chives are more than an ordinary kitchen herb. Let me share my dirt discoveries with you about growing and using chives in the garden .