May 02 2007
Indoor Container Vegetable Gardening offers Year-round Gardening Fun
There are many advantages to indoor container vegetable gardening. First, you can enjoy your gardening hobby pretty much year-round, since climate will not be as much of an issue for this style of gardening. Next, you can enjoy the harvest of a garden whether you live on a number of acres or in an apartment in the middle of the city. Finally, by cultivating an indoor container vegetable garden, you greatly eliminate the problem of weeds and garden pests when it comes to caring for your plants. With so many benefits to reap from indoor container vegetable gardening, why wait? Head to your local nursery to find out how to begin your indoor garden, and you will be enjoying those fresh, homegrown veggies in no time at all!
Choosing Containers for your Garden
One of the first considerations to make in planning your indoor container vegetable garden is the types of containers that you will use. Keep in mind that you will want to allow your plants plenty of room to grow up and out, as well as down. Roots need plenty of room for growth, it they are going to support a healthy plant, and so larger containers are almost always a better choice for indoor container vegetable gardening. You will need to make sure that there is plenty of room for drainage in the bottom of your container, and a layer of rocks or pebbles on the bottom that will allow the water to run through easily. Soil will be the next consideration, and your plants will do best in a potting soil that allows air and water to move through the container easily.
The plants that you select for your indoor container vegetable garden will depend first on the types that do well in this type of environment. While pumpkins and squash are not good choices for this limited amount of space, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers can do quite well in containers. Even root vegetables like carrots can thrive in a container, if there is plenty of room below the surface of the soil for them to grow. If you like beans or peas, you can buy the bush varieties or add a trellis to your container to allow your vines a place to climb. Make sure that you have a sunny window to keep your plants in, since many of your crops will require at least five hours of direct sun each day for best results.
Indoor container vegetable gardening can offer you the chance to indulge in your favorite hobby year-round, and can put fresh produce on your table during any season of the year. With a bit of research and planning you can have a successful indoor container vegetable garden no matter where you live and the time of year.
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Interesting article but in my experience you’re underestimating the amount of light you’ll need. Without supplemental lighting tomatoes and other high-light plants will not grow/bear fruit. 5 hours of window light (even south-facing) isn’t enough for tomatoes or peppers. Leafy greens might be OK depending on the amount of light.
I am so sorry to disapoint you Doug Green, But I have had thai pepper plants growing by south windows indoors producing some very hot pepprs for 2 years and going strong from the same plant mind you!!! Have a good day
But, the more light the hotter!
So much depends on the amount of sun you get. In other words what is the average amount of sun in your area? If you live in cloudy rainy Seattle you will not have as much luck with that south window as you will if you live in sunnier Oklahoma. I grow indoor veggies all winter. I use grow lights for the eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and cukes. The salad veggies get by fine on the light from the window.
I am just starting with indoor gardening vegetables. Any suggestions on books or web sites for the newcomer. We are in the process of building our house and planned a large south facing sunroom with windows on 3 sides for this reason.
I have 5 thai pepper trees growing since they were seeded. Now all 5 plants are over 5ft tall and 4ft wide producing many hot peppers. I use the following to help grow them: miracle grow for vegetables, and 4 4ft bulbs called grow lights at 6500k x 4 bulbs which only use 32 watts per bulb which I got from lowes. I have hundreds of peppers between the 5 plants and with the light they grow so fast. I am picking peppers every 2 weeks.