Produced by
Patti Moreno
Contributor to:
Starting a Vegetable Container Garden Indoors
This video will show you step-by-step how I transformed my 6X14 sunroom into the perfect indoor garden.
Summer is long gone and the harsh, cold and snowy New England Summer is on its way. What’s a Garden Girl to do? Start planting my indoor garden! Come with me, I’ll show you how to do it. All you’ll need is a small space (as little as 6 square feet) and a little bit of money for supplies, under $200 (which is less than ½ of the cost of a commercial indoor garden kit). Every time I step into my indoor garden, I’m greeted with the delicious aromas of fresh basil, oregano, lavender, mint and lemon and I know it was worth the work. I’m sure you’ll agree.
The items that you will need for your indoor garden are:
- Shelving – as you will see my wooden shelving units are inexpensive and provide the perfect set-up for a small space. As you will see, you should nail them down because as your garden starts to grow, your plants will get heavy!
- Platforms to elevate the shelving bringing your plants closer to the natural sunlight in the room
- Fluorescent tubes to imitate sunlight
- Household Timer to control when the lights come on
- Plastic containers that serve as mini greenhouse for seedlings. Don’t forget, your containers need proper drainage, so make sure that there are holes in the bottoms. (Basic vegetable seeds and smaller vegetables such as green beans, cucumbers, tomato, lettuce, peppers and Asian greens grow plants that are suited for containers like herbs.)
- Random containers found around your house (i.e. Water bottles, deli containers, soda cans, etc…) for planting seedlings
- Label maker
- Organic Soil - Use compost based organic potting soil for the perfect nutrient rich growing medium.
- Water - Water your containers about 3 times per week if the plant has dried out. Fertilize your indoor container garden regularly with organic fertilizer like liquid kelp that can be used once a week when you water. (Need more info on the huge buckets of water and the temperature etc...)
STOP!
Before you get overwhelmed by the mere idea of creating an indoor garden in your house, I recommend that you watch the video in its entirety and then continue reading…and then watch it again!
The process of creating an indoor garden does take some time and patience, but it will pay off for a season of fresh home grown produce. I promise, it will be the coolest thing you’ve done in a long time.
After you’ve identified the space in your home that you can clear out and re-purpose, find where the natural light shines in. Those will be the key areas for you to put your shelving units. If your windows are not floor to ceiling, you will need to utilize some sort of platform to raise your shelves above the ground. In the video, you will see that I used some old furniture that I quickly refinished by taking off the contact paper and added some shellac and got a good clean look.
If possible, set up your garden on the south or west side of your house to expose it to the maximum about of sunlight, where it will get at least six hours of sunlight each day. (Most food plants need at least six hours of direct sun light. Lettuce and other salad greens make do with just four hours of sun.)
Once your shelves are set up, it’s important that they are sturdy. In the video you saw how I simply secured the shelves by nailing them into the platforms and how I connecting them to each other.
You saw how easy it was to fasten the fluorescent lights to the shelves. I recommend the 5000 degree kelvin tubes that are just for this purpose. I would also suggest a programmable timer that you can set so the lights will turn on and off automatically.
My last advice is, at first, start with just a few plants. Once you’ve established a routine of taking care of them, you can add more once you have become comfortable with your maintenance routine. Watch, take notes and enjoy the process. Go!
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