Indoor Vegetable Gardening: A Challenge for Your Green Thumb

Attempting to grow vegetables indoors may not be the easiest thing to do, but with a little research and the gift of a green thump, it's not impossible. Indoor vegetable gardening may be an option if you have no other space available for container gardening. Naturally it's impractical to try growing certain vegetables in a limited indoor space such as corn or pumpkins that would require huge containers and large amounts of soil.

But several vegetable varieties are perfect candidates for indoor vegetable gardening and if you have a sunny south facing window it might be the perfect spot for some of the small tomatoes, lettuces and most varieties of herbs. Just remember that plants that have blossoms and set fruit like tomatoes and peppers, will need some form of supplemental light. Common fluorescent shop lights fitted with full spectrum bulbs work well and will keep plants from growing spindly and failing to produce.

Searching for the Sun

The small varieties of tomatoes and peppers, can easily adapt to indoor vegetable gardening. They require a warm sunny window or artificial light to grow well indoors. These plants like full sun but you can make up for this to some degree by placing a reflective surface behind your plants. With lots of care and a little luck you can start harvesting tomatoes and peppers in approximately ten weeks from planting.

Herbs are less demanding than vegetables and might be a better choice for indoor vegetable gardening. Many people that love to cook have a potted herb garden on the kitchen window sill. Herbs will provide seasonings for all your favorite dishes including soups, stews and salads. Plant seeds in 6 inch pots or your favorite decorative containers. It will take about 12 weeks before you can harvest your first leaves but growing herbs can be the perfect solution for doing some indoor vegetable gardening in a very small space.

Try Growing Sprouts

If you find that light is too limited, you might want to try your hand at sprouts. Growing sprouts is one form of indoor vegetable gardening that doesn't require light. You can sprout almost any seeds, including soybeans, alfalfa, lentils and mung beans, Use only seeds intended for sprouting as some seeds are treated with an antifungal agent which is poisonous. You can find these in health food or occasionally grocery stores. Put your seeds in a wide mouth container such as a canning jar and soak seeds overnight, drain and cover with a double layer of cheesecloth and hold in place with a canning jar ring or a rubber band. Set the container in a warm location, and drain and rinse the seeds two or three times a day. In just a few days sprouts will be popping up and when they are an inch or so long they are ready to use.