Create Your Own Indoor Container Garden

Nothing can beat fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs straight from the garden, but for many people a garden outdoors is just not possible, so here are a few tips on how to set up a garden indoors.

Herbs

Many herbs do well indoors. If you want a really simple indoor garden plant basil is your best bet. Mint also usually does well. Thyme and Rosemary need a little more light, but if you have a window that gets a lot of sun you might try them as well. Ginger grows well in a shallow pot if it is watered often.

Vegetables

Garlic is easily grown indoors by planting a couple of gloves in a pot with the tip up. Put the pot on a sunny windowsill and you should have green shoots in about a week. These shoots can be trimmed a bit and the trimmings can be used in all sorts of dishes. Green onions can also be grown in a similar manner.

Salad greens also do well indoors. Select varieties the grow up such as arugula, Spinach, bok choy, Tom Thumb butterhead lettuce, and parsley would all work well. Some seed companies have produced plant that are made to grow in pots such as dwarf carrots and radishes. Bean sprouts can be grown without any sunlight. Bush beans also grow well indoors.

Fruits

Tiny Thai hot pepper, strawberries in hanging baskets, Lingonberries, dwarf "Top Hat" blueberries and Kafir limes are all relatively easy to grow indoors. If you are interested in growing citrus fruits some other good varieties to try are Improved Meyer Lemon, Bears' Lime, Satsuma Mandarin, Ponderosa Lemons, Calamondins and kumquats. There are many varieties of columnar apple trees that do well indoors, but they need large pots and it often takes 2-3 years before you get any fruit.

Things to RememberSalad green plants prefer a bit cooler temperatures, so an enclosed porch would be a good option for these plants. Light conditions are generally very different indoors, especially if you are growing plants during the winter. Most plants need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight, so a warm fluorescent light might be necessary for best results. It is important that you do not use normal garden soil in a container. Normal soil contains diseases and insects that could flourish if allowed indoors. Out door soil also does allow for proper ventilation of the plant roots. Most plants will need to be watered daily or every other day, because houses generally have a much lower humidity.