Indoor vegetable gardening is a good way to source fresh food from your home. It assures that the fresh produce that you eat is free from pesticides and other contaminants. This is a very common threat to your food sources these days. Aside from that, gardening is a therapeutic activity, able to alleviate stress and negativity. If you are living in an urban, concrete jungle, or you just want to plant vegetables during winter and the cold months, this could be a passion you can learn to forget. But that was before when indoor vegetable gardening is unheard of and resources were not available how to make it work.

The secret to indoor vegetable gardening is sunlight (or artificial lighting), pollinating, fertilizing and watering. When you have done your share in making these things ideal for the vegetables, they will give you a considerable yield at a place and time thought to be impossible to harvest fresh vegetables.

Select a good container in various sizes depending on the vegetables you want to grow. Remember that the vegetables’ lifeline is the nutrients and moisture in the soil. A bigger plant might need a bigger container to support its needs. To save on space a hanging basket can be used.

If your house is positioned poorly in relation to sun exposure (on the windows and covered porches) then you might need to consider artificial indoor lighting which is commonly a combination of fluorescent cool white and warm white light source. This will ensure that your plants are getting the mandatory 6 hours exposure to light.

It is important for you to be familiar with vegetables that can be grown indoors. Some vegetable varieties will have a very hard time growing and maturing indoors. Some vegetables you can consider planting: lettuce, radishes, cabbage (miniature), Swiss chard, eggplant, tomatoes, spinach, squash and cucumber that are short-vined and even carrots and beets that are also small-rooted.

Soil preparation is very important. Ideal soil mixture is 1 part peat, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite, 1 part potting soil. Since your indoor vegetables need constant watering, this might deplete soil nutrients faster. It is important to use a balanced organic fertilizer to the soil at least once in every two weeks.

Indoor vegetable gardening will need artificial pollination. You can use an artist’s brush in transferring pollen from the flowers. Though everything is regulated and you need to work harder to keep the plants alive and healthy, the idea of having fresh vegetable salad in the middle of winter can definitely be rewarding enough for you, your family and friends.

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