Kitchen Gardening
For the freshest vegetables, try growing them right in your own kitchen.
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- Buy varieties of vegetables such as radishes and carrots in paper seed strips for quick planting, and to avoid having to deal with lots of little seeds. Stretch the tape out in a long container filled with soil, place in a shallow furrow and cover with soil. The paper decomposes as the seeds sprout.
- When planning an indoor vegetable garden, use smaller plants that take up a limited amount of space. Carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and radishes all grow well indoors.
- The kind of light available inside the home will determine what kind of plants will successfully grow. For instance, root and leaf crops such as carrots and lettuce will grow in partial shade. On the other hand, fruit crops need direct sunlight for at least five hours each day.
- Increase the amount of light available to a plant by surrounding it with aluminum foil.
- Start seeds in small individual cups, then transplant them into something larger when they are strong enough. The transplant container should be big enough to house the grown crop. Be sure to punch drainage holes in the bottom of the container.
- To plant, moisten the soil and spread the seeds. Cover the seeds with 1/4-inch of soil and wrap the top of the individual containers in plastic wrap until the seeds germinate.
- There should be at least six to eight inches of potting soil in the transplant container so the plant's roots have plenty of room to grow.
- Use a potting soil with a lightweight mix to ensure quick water drainage.
- Provide humidity and make watering easy for indoor plants by placing them in a tray with an inch of stones lining the bottom. The drained water from the plant will provide constant moisture to the plant. The water level in the tray should be below the top of the rocks so that the container rests on the rocks and not in the water.
- Place plants in a window that faces south and gets a lot of sun. Supplement natural light with fluorescent lighting during the winter.
- The best tomato plants to grow indoors are the smaller varieties such as cherry or Roma.
- Indoor vegetable plants should be fertilized regularly because they require more nutrients than outdoor plants.
- The indoor temperature should be maintained at various levels for different crops. Root crops grow better at temperatures in the 60-degree range, while fruit crops are happier when the temperature is closer to 80 degrees.
- After dropping seeds in a hole, make a tent to increase the humidity.
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