Indoor Veggie Garden

The rules are a little different when growing vegetables indoors. Temperature, pollination, and light requirements need more careful consideration than when one grows produce outside. The fertilization needs are also a bit different when gardening crops indoors. Nevertheless, there are some good vegetables that can be grown inside, and it is an activity that gardeners should explore.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

--Vegetable seeds are sometimes hard to come by in the late summer to early fall. A good plan is to buy the seeds when they are in abundance, in the late winter to early spring. Store them according to their needs, and start your indoor vegetable garden in the fall.

--Most leaf crops such as lettuce, endive, swiss chard and the like require cooler indoor temperatures. If you have a bright room which is more or less unused, it might make a good place to grow some of these plants. Likewise, an enclosed, sunny porch where temperatures will not dip down to freezing would be a good place to grow leaf crops and root crops as well. These plants will tolerate daytime temperatures in the low to mid 60's and can take cool nighttime temperatures down into the upper thirties.

--Vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers and beans do require warmer daytime and nighttime temperatures in order to flower and set fruit. Ideally, daytime temps should be in the upper 70's and nighttime temperatures should not drop lower than 60. A south facing indoor room with supplemental heating and one that warms up considerably in the winter from solar heating would be a good place to grow these crops.

--The amount of light and intensity also are important factors to consider. Outdoors in midsummer, lighting conditions are considerably different from the typical indoor conditions of late fall to early spring. Varieties of a given plant need to be chosen that will do better in shorter day situations, and supplemental lighting may very well be required to insure success. At least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight are required, and the plants need to be situated very close to a light source. The problem with more tender plants might be coldness radiating from the windows during the coldest part of the year. If that is the case, then supplemental lighting with a combination of cool-white and warm-white flourescent lighting will be necessary.

--Soil requirements are different than those we are used to encountering when gardening outdoors. Whatever you do, do not choose garden soil, no matter how rich it might be, for indoor vegetable gardening! Lightweight soil mixes are the best, garden soil can harbor diseases and insects that are more difficult to control in a confined indoor space, and even the best-quality garden soil can compact when used indoors in containers. A good mix for indoor vegetables would be 1 part potting soil, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part peat, and 1 part perlite.

--Vegetables will need to be watered daily or every other day due to the confined space in which they are growing and the lack of indoor humidity during the heating season. Because frequent watering can deplete nutrients, a supplemental feeding every two weeks will be necessary. Use a balanced organic fertilizer for best results. 

--One benefit of growing vegetables indoors is the lack of pests commonly found when the same plants are grown outdoors. Cucumber beetles, tomato hornworms, and cutworms are a few examples of pests that will be avoided when growing indoor crops. On the other hand, there are still potential pest problems, even when growing vegetables indoors. Insect pests common to houseplants will also be attracted to vegetable plants. These include whitefly, spider mites, and in some instances, mealy bugs. Treatment would be the same as for houseplants, and insecticidal soaps are very useful to have on hand.

--Pollination is something that will have to be done manually. An artist's brush helps to distribute pollen from one flower to the next, and is an indispensable tool to have on hand.

Here are a few vegetables to consider for indoor growing:

Cherry tomatoes, determinate vines
'Gypsy' peppers
Hungarian sweet peppers
Various hot peppers
Short-vined cucumbers
Short-vined squash
Leaf Lettuce of all types
Bush beans
Endive
Small-rooted carrots
Small-rooted beets
Radishes
Miniature cabbage
Bunching onions
Swiss Chard
Spinach
Eggplant