FEATURESTORY
5 Great Plants for Indoor Gardens
W
hether you live in an area that’s not
conducive to an outdoor garden or
don’t have access to enough outdoor
space, you can produce your own food
with an indoor vegetable & herb garden.
Planning for an Indoor Garden
Drainage
Drainage is key when it comes to indoor gar-
dening. Purchase pots with drainage holes (or drill
your own) and be sure to place a shallow drainage
container underneath each plant to protect floors,
shelves, or window sills if you aren’t using a green-
house. Be sure to re-pot every year, as roots can
sometimes grow through the drainage holes or be-
come root-bound.
Soil
Choose well-draining potting soil. It can be pur-
chased at a local garden center or you can mix perlite
into any regular potting soil to increase its porosity.
Temperature
Most plants suited for an indoor garden will do
well in 65°F–75°F. Temperatures can rise very quickly
in a greenhouse so make sure it has proper ventila-
tion and/or a cooling system.
Light
Most vegetable plants need a significant amount
of light every day. Fruiting vegetables need at least
eight hours, root vegetables and culinary herbs need
six hours and leafy vegetables need four hours per
day. If you are growing them in the home place the
plants near windows and supplement your natural
light with grow lights if necessary. Vegetables in a
greenhouse may also need supplemental lighting,
especially if they are grown during the late fall or
winter.
other herbs in the growing area, it can be easily split
and re-potted. Basil plants also actually act as natural
air fresheners. Just run your hand through the leaves
and enjoy the delightfully sweet, peppery smell.
Rosemary
Rosemary is slightly trickier than basil to grow
indoors, but it’s absolutely doable with the right plan-
ning and execution. First, because it needs quite a
bit of space and has very particular watering needs
give rosemary its own pot and make sure it has a
lot of light. It loves a lot of sunlight (around four to
six hours are necessary, but more is fine too). When
choosing a pot, make sure to leave enough room for
the roots. If your plant is six inches high, leave space
for six inches of roots.
Rosemary is what some gardeners call an upside-
down plant—it absorbs its moisture through its foli-
age, not its
roots. To
water it, mist
the entire
plant one to
two times
a week,
and water
it normally
(the roots
Plants for an Indoor Garden
Basil
Basil is a remarkably easy herb to grow—indoors
or out—and does extremely well in a greenhouse
or window box. It needs around six hours of natu-
ral sunlight per day to stay healthy and flourishing.
Water this basil regularly and use a bit of fertilizer
once a month. Basil grows so well indoors that you
may want to keep an eye on it—if it starts to overtake
May 2018
www.GardenandGreenhouse.net
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