Grow veggies indoors?

[Happy prose]

I'm in an apartment, and I'm thinking of puttina a table in front of a south facing window. What can I grow? I think tomato plants get too big. (This is in my dining room) Maybe some type of peppers? Anything else?

[kittensaver]

Culinary herbs - parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, mint, sage, dwarf bay leaf

salad greens

dwarf vegetables (tomato, cucumber, peppers - all have breeds and hybrids that are dwarf varieties)

any sprouts that can be harvested as micro-greens: broccoli, arugula, mesculin, sunflower, beet, chia, or any sprout mix.

Good luck and have fun!

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Salad greens and herbs.

[Deleted]

My Mom grows tons of different peppers indoors. 

[Deleted]

I'd be careful about trying dwarf tomatoes.  We grew some dwarf cherry tomatoes last year, and they grew to be over six feet!  They were hybrids so we joked that they took after the "other" side of the family. 

[Happy prose]

I like the idea of dwarf plants! minnesotapaintlady..how big do your mom's plants get?

[dannylion]

I would think the main problem with growing even the small, "patio" tomato plants indoors would be that even those smaller plants require a fairly large pot to accommodate the root system.  If the pot is too small, you will need to water constantly and feed more often, and even then the yield will likely not be worth the effort because the plant will be struggling with an insufficient root system. Salad greens and herbs do well indoors with sufficient light, water, and nutrients, major vegetable plants not so much. You might be able to do radishes and carrots, though, and even garlic. Pepper plants require less soil volume than tomatoes, so those should be doable. Good luck!  Keep us posted on what you're growing and how it's going.

[Deleted]

I second the salad greens.  I found a couple "baby" lettuce varieties that are good for one person.  The heads only grow to a few inches across and are perfect for a single salad.  Lettuce doesn't need deep roots.  I grew 5 heads in a "window box" style pot.  Lettuce also does well with partial shade and cooler temperatures.

[kittensaver]

Jan 27, 2015 15:07:43 GMT -5 dannylion said:

I would think the main problem with growing even the small, "patio" tomato plants indoors would be that even those smaller plants require a fairly large pot to accommodate the root system.  If the pot is too small, you will need to water constantly and feed more often, and even then the yield will likely not be worth the effort because the plant will be struggling with an insufficient root system. Salad greens and herbs do well indoors with sufficient light, water, and nutrients, major vegetable plants not so much. You might be able to do radishes and carrots, though, and even garlic. Pepper plants require less soil volume than tomatoes, so those should be doable. Good luck!  Keep us posted on what you're growing and how it's going.

Almost any pot that is 12"x12" or larger can "fool" the plant into thinking it's in the ground - the core root ball rarely if ever gets larger than that (take it from an urban gardener who pulls out of the ground and composts tomato plants every October). Pots this size are doable for a table or garden window, but clearly not for "just" a narrow window sill. I've seen friends and neighbors successfully grow veggies in pots indoors (although not more than one type of veggie; the indoor gardeners I know usually "specialize" in herbs, or one type of veggie like peppers).

And CLEARLY dwarf varieties still need "management" (pinching/topping off/deadheading/clipping) to stay a manageable size and to keep it "bush-like" in order to produce fruit. Just because it's labeled "dwarf" does not mean it's carefree and needs no management or shaping. Without attention ANY size plant will get twiggy and rangy and put its energy into spreading instead of into flowering/fruiting. So if Happy prose is motivated I don't believe tomatoes are out of the question. JMHO, however.

And yes, plants in pots need more water and more nutrients than plants in the ground. But again if happy prose is motivated to manage an indoor garden, I don't see why she can't grow tomatoes or pretty much any warm season veggie she desires. She can probably successfully grow the round/Thumbelina/French carrots (or maybe the dwarf Nantes), but not the larger ones. They will need very tall pots or they will grow stunted/deformed.

JMHO - from a hard-core urban gardener. Others may disagree, and I'm fine with that .

ETA: garlic indoors gets very, um, fragrant - especially in bright sunlight. A good thing if you like garlic, otherwise - not so much. If you really like garlic but don't want to smell like a pizzeria, I'd grow it in a pot on a balcony or a stoop. JMHO.

[Deleted]

I am very sensitive to tomato plants. I'd never be able to have them inside. Not sure if you've ever grown them before ?

[Happy prose]

I grew the big plants at my sister in law's house. They made me a bit itchy! 

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:06:33 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

I like the idea of dwarf plants! minnesotapaintlady..how big do your mom's plants get?

Well, some of them are pretty big, but these are plants she's had a long time.  She drags them outside in the summer and brings them in during the winter, so some of them are many years old.  Habeneros are probably a bush a couple feet tall and wide.  There are smaller ones though.  I'll have to ask her.

[Happy prose]

Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

[cronewitch]

I haven't but would try a hanging basket of edible pod peas. I grew them on a balcony once and they trail down nicely and have cute purple flowers. Everyday you water them you can look at the flowers and see if they are turning to pea pods pushing off the flower. Then the pods get a little bigger each day until you end up eating them while watering. Takes a long time to get more than you eat while watering but if you have extra you can put them in stir-fry or salad or freeze them. Outdoors you start them on Washington's birthday then plant more every couple of weeks until spring. You can soak the seeds overnight before planting to help them germinate faster.

[haapai]

I'm going to try crone's idea. 

The radishes that I'm trying to grow in the basement aren't looking too promising.  I didn't place them particularly close to either the fluorescents or the window, so they've gotten leggy. 

It shouldn't be too hard to get a hanging basket closer to the light. 

[CarolinaKat]

Jan 27, 2015 14:20:15 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

I'm in an apartment, and I'm thinking of puttina a table in front of a south facing window. What can I grow? I think tomato plants get too big. (This is in my dining room) Maybe some type of peppers? Anything else?

Kitties chop on green growing things and wallow in pots, and sit on plants... and use them for kitty war games

ETA: All of my houseplants are in hanging pots 

[kittensaver]

Jan 28, 2015 12:58:43 GMT -5 CarolinaKat said:

Jan 27, 2015 14:20:15 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

Kitties chomp on green growing things and wallow in pots, and sit on plants... and use them for kitty war games

LOL! So true!

[Happy prose]

Haha...I forgot about my boy. I don't really want to hang. Maybe I'll somehow elevate the table. He's pretty fat and can't jump too high. In order to get on the dining table, he has to go via chair. 

[weltschmerz]

You can regrow romaine lettuce after you eat it. Just pop the hearts into a bit of water.

Here's how.

backtomyroots.ca/re-grow-romaine-lettuce-hearts/

I know Steff had great success doing this.