As i've stated before, we live in a duplex type home, and while we have a HUGE backyard, we share it with others and being that we are in Ohio, it's flippin cold right now and I'd like to be able to grow indoors so that I can grow year round....any one else have any suggestions for foods that I can grow inside without taking up too much room? I've heard that you can grow potatoes in a barrell and I love me some taters lol I am open to growing anything, even though I am a picky eater, I am willing to eat anything if starving. In the summer, I think that I could get away with a small above ground garden so that I don't have to dig up my landlords yard. Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks everyone!
Indoor growing?
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Colt 1911
Swiss army knives / multi tools
You can grow stuff in five gal buckets, poke some holes in the bottom, put some rocks in, then your soil.
Fordrocks1986
Member
When I hear indoor growing I think weed I don't know why I just do
Coche Blanco
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haha same here, actually, you could probably get a lot of useful information about growing plants inside off of one of those pot websites.
Colt 1911
Swiss army knives / multi tools
You can get a lot of tomatoes off one plant. Something is better than nothing.
We have 7 vegetables and 7 herbs in our indoor garden at the moment. They were all started from seeds and all inside. We are using grow lights! We have all of our plants in portable pots so that if we should lose power we can tote them outside to get sunlight and bring them back in for the night due to the cold weather. I have found that the plants under an aquarium grow light seem to be growing the fastest! I didn't go to the store and buy a bunch of plant pots either. I have even used packing material that came off electronics because it was like herb planters, and then I sterilized some other plastic containers and totes, and even Lego boxes! I am on a budget so I took a look around the house and used what I knew would work. I have yet to spend more than $25 on my garden. I paid $19 for the seeds and found organic soil at Wal-Mart for .99Cents for 40 pound bags. I don't have any heat blowing on my plants or in the room with my plants. The room I am using does not have a heat/air vent (not that I've turned the heat on even though it’s in the low 30s). I do leave the door to the room open. I have found that things like garlic and spearmint take a little longer to sprout, then is the bell peppers, and carrots. The easiest thing I have found to grow is spinach and lettuce mix, then green onions, tomatoes (roma and beef), green beans, basil, parsley, oregano, and sweet basil. Most herbs are fairly simple to grow indoors because they do not require a deep root system. However, when you grow something like a carrot you must ensure that you have a deep enough container and deep enough soil in an effort to give the carrots room to grow down into the soil, same with garlic, and potatoes. I plan to plant cucumbers, peas, and red cabbage this weekend. I am going to purchase my fruit trees and strawberry seeds if I can find them this weekend as well. I have only had these plants for 11 days and all of them say 7-10 or 10-14 days to sprout! All but my peppers, garlic, and spearmint have sprouted. My green beans are huge and my green onions are quite large as well. I have been watering my plants every other day and it only takes a little sprinkle of water to moisten the soil. I don't have drain holes in the bottom of any of the containers and the only thing in them besides the seeds/plants is dirt. No rocks or anything and no holes in the bottoms. If you know how to put the correct amount of water in each plant you don't have to have holes in them to drain because you won't over water them. Holes are just a fool proof way of watering. If you are unsure you may want holes in the bottoms.
Colt 1911
Swiss army knives / multi tools
Awesome sums it up !!
Actually the holes in the bottom are a neccesary item.
without the drain holes the water cannot drain from soil causing many problems like the roots to suffocate, which eventually leads to root rot and death. Suffocating roots cannot absorb oxygen and nutrients from the soil. Waterlogged conditions in containers of soil also favor the growth of mildews and other fungus problems.
Without drainage, excess moisture can't escape the pot so it becomes trapped in the soil. Even if the top of the soil feels dry in an pot without drainage holes, moisture trapped in the bottom of the pot can still cause rot issues.
In fact even in pots that have a single drain hole, depending on the type of soil can suffer from suspention. That is the area in the bottom of the pot that gravity cant pull the water from because the friction between the soil, and water is more.
In a container that has no holes your plants will have 2 situations, either they will be underwatered because it is impossible to consistancy water a single area due to the soil absorption disruptions below the soil line, or they continuously loose root area in the container as they cannot survive in any area that is undrained, due to the contaninants from the soil rotting in a oxygen deficient environment.
If you dont want to have the holes in containers it would be much more to your advantage to just go hydroponics, the pumps keep the water oxygen rich, you can keep it nutrient rich. the plants will grow water roots instead of soil roots(not nearly as strong, but will survive)
The greatest problem with growing plants in holeless containers is that, they dont grow with both water roots, and soil roots. If started in water and left in water, they will survive. If started in soil and the area under them is saturated to the 1" line, nothing will grow below it, in fact nature will tell it to stall out just above there, because it is all the water it needs at that height because of absorption. And the plant will start growing more roots at the level above the water. now 2 more times of water, the water comes up to the 2" line, the roots that were there start turning to water roots. The area about 3" from the bottom now explodes into a fury of root building action because the ones now underwater are not working 100%, but the top is still growing.
soon the bottom 4 inches are not really usable to its compasity,
without the drain holes the water cannot drain from soil causing many problems like the roots to suffocate, which eventually leads to root rot and death. Suffocating roots cannot absorb oxygen and nutrients from the soil. Waterlogged conditions in containers of soil also favor the growth of mildews and other fungus problems.
Without drainage, excess moisture can't escape the pot so it becomes trapped in the soil. Even if the top of the soil feels dry in an pot without drainage holes, moisture trapped in the bottom of the pot can still cause rot issues.
In fact even in pots that have a single drain hole, depending on the type of soil can suffer from suspention. That is the area in the bottom of the pot that gravity cant pull the water from because the friction between the soil, and water is more.
In a container that has no holes your plants will have 2 situations, either they will be underwatered because it is impossible to consistancy water a single area due to the soil absorption disruptions below the soil line, or they continuously loose root area in the container as they cannot survive in any area that is undrained, due to the contaninants from the soil rotting in a oxygen deficient environment.
If you dont want to have the holes in containers it would be much more to your advantage to just go hydroponics, the pumps keep the water oxygen rich, you can keep it nutrient rich. the plants will grow water roots instead of soil roots(not nearly as strong, but will survive)
The greatest problem with growing plants in holeless containers is that, they dont grow with both water roots, and soil roots. If started in water and left in water, they will survive. If started in soil and the area under them is saturated to the 1" line, nothing will grow below it, in fact nature will tell it to stall out just above there, because it is all the water it needs at that height because of absorption. And the plant will start growing more roots at the level above the water. now 2 more times of water, the water comes up to the 2" line, the roots that were there start turning to water roots. The area about 3" from the bottom now explodes into a fury of root building action because the ones now underwater are not working 100%, but the top is still growing.
soon the bottom 4 inches are not really usable to its compasity,
I think I am going to try this!
I just added a 24 inch grow light and I am about to add 3 more viggies to my crops. I just ordered the seeds for watermelon, strawberries, and broccoli for my indoor garden too.... I wanted to ensure that I ordered heirloom seeds this time rather than just buying organic... all of my plants are doing well at this time!
I would recomend you not buy heirloom seeds for some things to be grown indoors, like tomatoes, you really should go for the patio type tomatoe plants. (and watermellons just are not going to work inside LOL, but good luck)
How big should the rocks be, or does it really not matter?
the rocks are only used to break the suspention in the bottom layer of soil.
suspention is the friction between the spaces of the soil where the water is trapped and gravity.
any size gravel will work, but if you have enough holes and real potting soil, they are not needed at all.
I have 2,000 5 gallon pots out there in the yard and not a gravel in one.
once you drill holes in the bucket, it simply becomes a pot, LMAO
3/4 hole in center of bottom, and 4 holes as close to bottom in the sides as you can get,
its now a pot.
Truth is almost every nursery in the nation will sell you a used pot for a nickle a gallon.
a 5 gallon pot would be a quarter each. these pots need washed in bleach, thats why most dont even reuse pots.
its cheaper for them to buy new ones than to disinfect between pot size stages.
Lowes has started a new nationwide pot return campain to make people think they are a green company, and dont want pots in landfills.
So people return them to them, ask for them, they are going in trash there anyways. I get thousands of pots a year from lowes.
old_anorak
Prepping Goddess
I've found that some things will do alright indoors, but most plants need the bees and other bugs doing the pollination for them. It can be done by hand. If you are still in that duplex come spring, instead of tilling up the yard, get kid's swimming pools. Bore holes around the sides near the bottom of the pool for drainage and then fill with your dirt. The nice thing about the pools is that you don't need to leave room for rows, so you can plant intensively since all you have to do to harvest or work in the pool garden is reach in from the edge.
UrbanArchR
Member
For space-saving, I've read about "pomatoes". Tomatoes and Potatoes are in the same family, and you can apparently graft a tomato plant to the root structure of a potato plant, giving you two for the space of one. Here's a link to some simple instructions that I'm going to try. We'll see what happens?
http://www.ehow.com/how_7647547_graft-tomatoes-onto-potatoes.html
Also, I already know that you should NOT plant tomatoes near potatoes. It can cause blights because of bacteria-carrying insects that eat both plants. Although, if you're growing these indoors, it may not be a problem..?
http://www.ehow.com/how_7647547_graft-tomatoes-onto-potatoes.html
Also, I already know that you should NOT plant tomatoes near potatoes. It can cause blights because of bacteria-carrying insects that eat both plants. Although, if you're growing these indoors, it may not be a problem..?
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