what plants good for indoor gardening?

[weterman]

what plants are easy to grow inside? I need something to occupy myself during the winter. ill just wait till next year to start, but I would like some ideas on how to do it.

[rainbowgardener]

You put this in the vegetable gardening forum. Did you mean what vegetables are easy to grow indoors in winter? That is a much tougher question than what plants are easy indoors. If not, if you just meant houseplants and such, you should probably re-post this question in the Container Gardening section.

We do have threads going on, on winter indoor tomatoes and winter indoor peppers (and eggplants). Applestar has actually been producing ripe tomatoes and peppers indoors through the winter. That is NOT to say that it is easy. Applestar is a very experienced gardener and works hard at it. Only saying it can be done and without expensive high intensity lighting.

But it would help to define better what you mean by easy (as well as whether you mean veggies or just houseplants). Are you willing to provide supplemental lighting? (That would be dedicated fluorescents placed just a few inches away from your plants, shining directly on them.)

What keeps me busy during the winter is starting plants from seeds under lights. You are in Canada, so presumably spring comes a lot later for you, so there would be less you could be starting right now, but not nothing. Some of the slow growing perennials, like lavender, thyme, rosemary could be started now, even parsley which is not as slow growing, but can take up to a month to sprout.

[rainbowgardener]

Never understand why people do this. OP posts a quite reasonable, non-spammy question. I ask a couple of simple follow up questions, [did you really mean vegetables, seems like a basic and easy to answer question] in order for us to be able to give meaningful responses and OP never comes back. My answer came first thing in the AM when he posted after midnight. If he gave a timely response to my questions, the process would not have been slowed down much. Why bother posting the question if you aren't going to follow through?

Was my answer too long? Was there anything negative or critical sounding about it? I don't mean to be driving people away when I am trying to help.

[katjohn83]

Maybe they took your tip and reposted on other forum?

Or maybe they forgot how to get back to this site?

Or maybe they just don't live in the internet and will check back later as it doesn't appear to be an urgent response needed.

In any event I do not think your response was why they have not returned. I think your response was polite and to the point.

[weterman]

Never understand why people do this. OP posts a quite reasonable, non-spammy question. I ask a couple of simple follow up questions, [did you really mean vegetables, seems like a basic and easy to answer question] in order for us to be able to give meaningful responses and OP never comes back. My answer came first thing in the AM when he posted after midnight. If he gave a timely response to my questions, the process would not have been slowed down much. Why bother posting the question if you aren't going to follow through?

Was my answer too long? Was there anything negative or critical sounding about it? I don't mean to be driving people away when I am trying to help.

sorry I forgot about this.

I been busy with school final tests. (wasnt studying, they just made me forget this )

indoor plants - I mean like things you eat like fruits or vegetables and that stuff.

and your response was fine

[rainbowgardener]

sorry, I just get frustrated sometimes.

So... easy to grow indoor edibles. I would start with salad greens. You can get seed packets of mixed leaf lettuces. They are easy and quick to grow and don't require anything fancy. You can plant them in a small planter, cut the little seedlings off near the base when they are just a couple inches tall, for micro greens, which are trendy and supposed to be very nutritious. They will keep growing back Or you can give them more room and let them grow out to be full sized lettuce. Spinach and other greens would be good too.

You can grow scallions indoors. Just get a bunch of scallions from the store. Put them in a glass of water until the roots start growing and then plant in potting soil. Then you can just keep cutting onion greens from them.

I love growing herbs, so I think they are good for indoor growing also. Basil is one of the easiest from seed and quickest growing. If you have a really good unobstructed south facing window, you may be able to grow it on the windowsill. Otherwise, it will probably need additional light. Parsley and mint would be easy to grow indoors and both are less picky about how much light. They are slow starting from seed. It can be done, but if you are not patient, it might be best to get little starter plants.

They say carrots do well from seed in pots, but I've never tried it.

Fruit is a trickier question. You definitely can grow fruit indoors. Maybe applestar (one of our mods) will come by and talk to you about the lemon, banana, avocado, fig trees she grows in pots and brings indoors for the winter. It is just a much longer term project. Harvesting any fruit is a few years down the road when you start growing fruit trees. If you have plenty of light, you could try strawberries in a pot. They would be the quickest fruit to grow.

This should be enough to get started with. Do look up the winter indoor tomatoes and peppers threads I mentioned before.

[weterman]

sorry, I just get frustrated sometimes.

So... easy to grow indoor edibles. I would start with salad greens. You can get seed packets of mixed leaf lettuces. They are easy and quick to grow and don't require anything fancy. You can plant them in a small planter, cut the little seedlings off near the base when they are just a couple inches tall, for micro greens, which are trendy and supposed to be very nutritious. They will keep growing back Or you can give them more room and let them grow out to be full sized lettuce. Spinach and other greens would be good too.

You can grow scallions indoors. Just get a bunch of scallions from the store. Put them in a glass of water until the roots start growing and then plant in potting soil. Then you can just keep cutting onion greens from them.

I love growing herbs, so I think they are good for indoor growing also. Basil is one of the easiest from seed and quickest growing. If you have a really good unobstructed south facing window, you may be able to grow it on the windowsill. Otherwise, it will probably need additional light. Parsley and mint would be easy to grow indoors and both are less picky about how much light. They are slow starting from seed. It can be done, but if you are not patient, it might be best to get little starter plants.

They say carrots do well from seed in pots, but I've never tried it.

Fruit is a trickier question. You definitely can grow fruit indoors. Maybe applestar (one of our mods) will come by and talk to you about the lemon, banana, avocado, fig trees she grows in pots and brings indoors for the winter. It is just a much longer term project. Harvesting any fruit is a few years down the road when you start growing fruit trees. If you have plenty of light, you could try strawberries in a pot. They would be the quickest fruit to grow.

This should be enough to get started with. Do look up the winter indoor tomatoes and peppers threads I mentioned before.

with that lettuce, how big of a container would I need? ill wait until next year to do this cause all the dirt is covered in snow, and I don't think my parrents would want me trying it now.

and tell me about how herbs grow? I'm not really sure of what they are. and mint herb is where we get mint from gum? how would I harvest the mint?

[rainbowgardener]

You are talking about growing indoors, right? That was the title of your thread, plants for indoor gardening. You do heat your house? Then you can start now.

You don't put dirt (like from the garden) in containers anyway; it is too heavy and dense and holds too much moisture, compacts into a brick. You buy a bag of potting mix at the store and put it in your containers.

How big a container for lettuce depends on how much lettuce you want to grow. You want something at least 6" deep.

Here's some instructions:

https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Lettuce-Indoors

they would be the same instructions for spinach and other greens.

Herbs are the stuff we use for flavoring other things, rather than just eating the herbs directly. I already mentioned basil and parsley. You can also grow oregano, sage, thyme, but they are slower and not as easy. Mint is the stuff you make mint tea out of or mint jelly or add it to lemonade or other drinks. You can make mint syrup which is wonderful over ice cream. Harvesting is just picking the mint leaves or sprigs of leaves.

[weterman]

You are talking about growing indoors, right? That was the title of your thread, plants for indoor gardening. You do heat your house? Then you can start now.

You don't put dirt (like from the garden) in containers anyway; it is too heavy and dense and holds too much moisture, compacts into a brick. You buy a bag of potting mix at the store and put it in your containers.

How big a container for lettuce depends on how much lettuce you want to grow. You want something at least 6" deep.

Here's some instructions:

https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Lettuce-Indoors

they would be the same instructions for spinach and other greens.

Herbs are the stuff we use for flavoring other things, rather than just eating the herbs directly. I already mentioned basil and parsley. You can also grow oregano, sage, thyme, but they are slower and not as easy. Mint is the stuff you make mint tea out of or mint jelly or add it to lemonade or other drinks. You can make mint syrup which is wonderful over ice cream. Harvesting is just picking the mint leaves or sprigs of leaves.

ohh ok

[Halfway]

Indoor growing is sooooo easy for leafy veggies, but anything requiring a "fruiting" or "flowering" cycle will require additional lights and additional cost.

Consider lettuce, basil, kale, cilantro, and other herbs as VERY easy under lights indoors.

[Bkbanks]

My indoor lettuce kale and spinach sprouts seem to be stunted. Hoping someone can help. I have a plastic flat with a few drain holes. Under florescent lights. Lights on timer 16hrs a day. Seeds germinated within a few days. It's been 30 days and many don't have true leaves yet and none more than one set. Very small. It is a basement set up and temps stay about 65 to 70 degrees. Any suggestions?

[rainbowgardener]

Since it sounds like you are doing most things right, that leaves me with two questions: How far above the plants are your lights? They need to be right down close, like 2" above the plants, hung so they can be raised as the plants grow.

How are you watering? Water is the trickiest issue for seedlings. They can't be allowed to dry out or they die, but they are sensitive to over watering.

You are right, they should have been farther along by now. You didn't say where you are located. I start a ton of seeds under lights in my basement, but spinach and lettuce I just plant directly in the ground. If your ground is unfrozen and not too wet, you can just plant more seeds in the ground. I will be doing that this weekend.

[Bkbanks]

I'm in MD, zone 6. Ground is wet but hopefully dry enough to work soon. My lights are on chains that can be adjusted. I started them 2 inches above, and now have them about 8 inches above thinking they may have heated too much. I'll move them back down. Saw someone suggest a fan for circulation. I'll try that too. Watering has been a question. But lately I've been watching closely letting the top dry before watering. I kept it damp early on. Maybe that is the problem? I also have a few fungus gnats and trying to control with reduced watering and a tray of vinegar soap water solution. Could the gnats be responsible for the stunting?

Thanks so much for your help!

[applestar]

One more -- what kind of soil mix? Maybe they need to be fertilized. Seed starting mixes if that was used, have little to no fertility -- I really think it's partly intended to promote the chemical liquid fertilizer method. I'm also seeing way more un-decomposed bits of wood in potting mixes lately -- ones I use as well as ones people have been talking about on the forums. Which would deplete the nitrogen in the mix.

Since last fall, I have been using paper -- newsprint type typically used for packing -- to line bottoms of my containers (to keep soil mix from falling out) and also have used k-cups without removing filters. I think the slow growth and stunted growth I'm seeing is due to nitrogen lock up in the area especially when the feeder roots grow up to the paper. Repotting/uppotting in fresh growing mix or heavily fertilizing once to kick them back into growth seems to be working.

Lining the container with paper worked perfectly fine last spring when the containers were going out for the season -- I think because the direct contact with the soil meant the earthworms etc. moved right in and started breaking down the paper right away. But I think I won't be doing this for indoor and isolated from the ground containers any more.

[Bkbanks]

You might be on to something...I used a cheepo potting soil mix and noticed it has lots of wood bits. I'll repot a few into a better soil mix to see if that does the trick. I'll report back. Thanks!