Virtually any vegetable that grows in your outdoor garden can be grown indoors, according to Texas A&M horticulturist Sam Cotner, provided that the space, temperature, light, soil, moisture and nutritional requirements of each plant are met.
Choose containers that provide adequate space for root development. Leaf crops like spinach and lettuce have a shallower room system than tomatoes, for example, so a smaller container would be appropriate for your greens.
Warm-weather crops such as peppers and tomatoes require higher temperatures to germinate and flower, generally a minimum of 75 degrees during the day and 65 degrees at night. Beans and leaf crops grow better in lower temperatures and can even tolerate a light frost without sustaining damage.
Most vegetables require at least six to eight hours of full sun. Plant lights can be used as a substitute for direct sunlight for vegetables grown indoors.
Lightweight potting mixes produce stronger plants with healthier root systems. Cotner recommends either commercial or homemade mixes containing peat moss and vermiculite.
Keep soil moist but not soaked. Too much water will suffocate the roots of plants.
Cotner recommends feeding daily with a nutrition solution such as a 10-20-10 fertilizer mixed with a gallon of warm tap water. Begin feeding as soon as plants emerge.
- Texas A&M Extension: Vegetable Gardening in Containers
- GardenGal.com: Indoor Vegetable Gardening
indoor gardening, growing vegetables indoors, vegetable plants
About this Author
Writing since 1981, Dawn Williams is managing editor and columnist for "Chicagoland Senior News." Her work has appeared in the "Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine," "Country Sampler," "Your Next Step Magazine," "Life Newspapers," the "Kane County Chronicle," and websites focusing on health and fitness, parenting and senior issues.