Hello I'm a student and I thought it would be great fun to grow some veg on the window sills in my house.
This will also save me money, which I don't have much of being a student. I'll be able to make sure I always have vegetables to eat.
What vegetables do you suggest I start with and what varieties.
I'm defiantly going to so some Salad leaves to start off but I'm not sure what else will grow indoors especially at this time of year.
Well, Charlotte-Chan, at 4 or 5 servings of veggies a day - how big are your window sills?
Okay, I can see a table set in a good south-facing window as making a contribution to a person's diet. I'd stay with shade-tolerant choices, like lettuce and spinach. Even if there's a lot of light and, maybe even, a little hot and dry - the glass will cut down on usable light for growth. Still, plants can do quite well in a sunny window and make quite a bit of growth.
You may want to try some of the Asian greens - like bok choy. Leaf mustard would also be worth trying. I may start things like bok choy in my south window but these plants all go out into the open garden at my place. I can only imagine them staying in the window and doing well.
Think about sprouts. You don't need the south window, they can be grown on a kitchen counter. And, you don't need any fancy-smancy sprouter. Cheese cloth over a jar works fine. You just need to be conscientious about rinsing them with fresh water several times a day - and, using them!
You may be able to buy seed cheaply in bulk. One of my favorites is alfalfa sprouts. Maybe alfalfa is known as lucerne to you. Radish seed also makes good sprouts and there are many others! I like sprouts, not only in salads, but with cream cheese in a sandwich.
We have suprisngly big window sills in our flat they are all about 2 metres long each! I defiantly like the sound of lettuce, spinach and bok choy. Leaf mustard can be nice too, but sometimes very peppery.
Ah where I'm from alfalfa sprouts would just be called Cress. Which I agree is defiantly nice in a sandwich with Cream cheese!
Would growing Cherry tomatoes inside work, or would it be too cold for them?
Not necessarily too cold; the biggest issue is going to be light. Growing leaves is one thing. Getting a plant to blossom and set fruit is another and takes way more energy = intensity of light.
You may think your window gets a lot of sun. But right away the glass filters it some. And then it is coming from only one direction, so it is automatically less than half the amount of light the plant would get outside in a full sun location (which tomatoes want). Someone here pointed out, if you stand outside your house and look in the window, the house looks quite dark. That's the difference between indoor light and outdoor light.
If you want indoor fruiting, you really need a pretty sophisticated light set up. Otherwise, it will work much better for you to stick to leafy things, not fruiting ones. I brought in a green pepper plant to over winter. It is in a corner with windows on two sides and it has a lamp shining on it 12 - 16 hrs a day. It is hanging in there and I hope to keep it alive until spring. Early on it made two blossoms, but they dropped off without setting fruit and it hasn't blossomed any more since then.
Ah I see. It's too bad we can't use what outside space we have. The lady we live above is a bit strange and would probably do something to anything we left outside. =/
