Question by Spread The Love: Is it possible to grow a vegetable garden inside my house?
it’s wintertime, so trying to grow a veggie garden in this weather is impossible. and even so, we do not have a yard that I could grow a garden. it is possible to grow a small vegetable garden in my house in pots and plant trays??
Best answer:
Answer by Arlene
You could definitely grow an herb garden and maybe a few small things but as far as a regular garden I seriously doubt it.
Give your answer to this question below!
As long as you have a moderate temperature and sunlight you can.
You could if you had the right kind of ventilation system. What happens when you have too many plants in the home is the evaporation of water from the soil often can cause a mold problem in drywall. You’d also have to replace the abundant sunlight plants would normally get outdoors with special indoor lighting.
You can grow a limited amount of them in an Aerogarden or similar system, which works on hydroponics (soil-less growing) but you’d have to have a few of them to get through a whole winter and the ventilation would also be a must. Also only certain kinds of vegetables grow in the Areogarden…no root vegetables, no squashes or cucumbers, the plants get too big. For the most part you can grow lettuces, tomatoes and small peppers in it.
I’ve seen people grow bean sprouts in jars and you could certainly do that.
You could try, but I doubt it would be worth the effort.
Veges need lots of light, and the amount of money you’d spend on electricity would probably cost more than buying your vegetables. Also, you’d be giving up house space, dealing with pests in the house and likely be growing very low quality low nutrient food if you could even get them to grow at all.
If you have a sunny deck or very sunny window, you could try growing some herbs to flavor your cooking, but they will want at least six hours of direct sunlight a day.
I woulds say yes depending on the size you want and the vegetables you want to grow but some lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and some herbs in a large wooden pot (like a half a barrel) or any large plastic 50 gallon container that would need good drainage like river rock on the bottem should work and a grow light.
For five years I have been writing an indoor gardening website…..
The three things that will contribute most to your success are adequate lighting, good temperature control, and correct fertilization. Another important factor would be air circulation and air exhaust (which is partly related to temperature control).
The easiest things to grow would be lettuce, spinach, and herbs. These all produce food while the plants are still in the vegetative stage, and therefore require less light and less fertilizer to produce. They also do not require any special light manipulation (such as a 12 hour dark period every day) to produce. These items will all do well under regular fluorescent lights kept within a couple of inches to the plants. With fluorescent lights, temperature control would not be a concern.
Other veggies produce only in the flowering stage, which requires much more light. Most veggies prefer full sun, which means you will need a substantial light source. For indoor gardening, HID lights are the standard choice (and for good reason). For a small garden, I suggest a 400 watt light or a 600 watt light. You will want to keep your garden area lit by 40 watts per sq.ft.. Many different sources will recommend many different values for this, but 40 watts per sq.ft. is very sufficient for good results.
HID lights produce considerable heat. A thermometer in the garden is a good idea (keep it in the lit area of your garden). An exhaust fan not only cools your light fixture, but also removes heat from the garden. If exhausted properly, the negative air pressure created can be used to pull fresh air into the garden, thereby replenishing the CO2 in the garden area as well as controlling the temp. Squirrel cage fans and centrifugal fans are the main choices for this task, and you should pick a fan capable of exhausting your entire garden area within 5 minutes (the link below has a great exhaust fan section that can help you figure this out).
Once lighting and temperature have been addressed, your main problem is feeding your plants properly. A whole book can be written on this topic. Growing in soil will be different than growing in a hydroponic system. The specific feeding plan you choose will depend on what kind of plants you decide to grow and how you decide to grow them. Once again, the link below has sections on both organic and hydroponic gardening that are very helpful when it comes to figuring this kind of thing out. Hope this helps!