Happy November 1st - Plant A Garden!

I'm starting out my indoor garden with the easiest things to grow:  leaf lettuce, greens (love the mild Tendergreen mustard), carrots (short or dwarf works best), spinach, beets, spring kale, radishes. There are more but these are both fast-maturing and easy. 

We'll be eating fresh, crisp home-grown salads before Christmas! Growing indoors is such a delight in winter - when the first tiny little green seedlings begin poking up from the soil it's like spring again. Here are some basic steps to begin growing vegetables indoors:

Choose your vegetables.  I'm starting with mesclun (a mix of leaf lettuces - 30 days to mature), Tendergreen mustard (30 days to mature) and spinach (Bloomsdale - 48 days but I pick 'em early to go with the others. Sweet!)  These cool season crops prefer less intense light.

Choose your location.  A sunny, south facing window is ideal. You can grow lettuce and greens there with little or no additional light.  I don't have a south facing window so I'm going to grow in the living room (it's cool in there) and on my kitchen counter.  Bookshelves, hanging baskets, wall shelves, low shelves along a wall. Lots of options.  I'll also need additional lighting.

A simple flourescent shop light works, but a T8 full spectrum (daylight) flourescent light for general growing emulates sunlight better than the shop light, it's inexpensive and you can use it for alot more vegetables. They come in either 4-foot or 2-foot lengths, or in light bulb form, for a smaller growing area.  Hang it 4 - 6 inches above the plants.  If I use a bookshelf, I'll paint it white to reflect more light onto the plants.  The fixture should have some sort of reflective top on it which will also direct more of the lights downward.

Soil and container(s).  A good do-it-yourself mix is:
                                     4 parts regular garden soil
                                     2 parts compost
                                     2 parts peat
                                     1 part coarse bagged sand

Potting soil especially for containers works well too.  

The container should be 4 - 6 inches deep.  Put a few drainage holes, stones in the bottom along with the soil and you're good to go.  I don't like using anything plastic so I use either terra cotta pots or wood (untreated cedar fencing or pine - cheap and easy to make a box).

CAN WE PLANT NOW?  Yes!! Happy Gardening, think green and dream. More to come.