Grow Your Garden Indoors

You can have fresh fruits and vegetables even if you don't have a yard

Do you love the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables? Wish you could have a garden but you just don't have space in the yard? A fruitful alternative could be indoor gardening.

"Anything you can grow in the ground you can grow in a pot," says Mary McLellan, state master garden coordinator at Michigan State University. This is great news for anyone living in apartments and condos, or for those who don't have enough yard space. You can grow carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and more.

Before you start having dreams of harvesting, you need to know the key factors for growing indoor gardens, including container preparation, lighting and watering, as well as the key challenges you will face.

Preparing the container
"The number one rule to indoor gardening is adequate drainage holes," McLellan says. You can either plant directly into a container with drainage holes, or place a plant in one pot and then place that into a tray or decorative container. If you place the pot into a tray or decorative container, McLellan recommends placing a bottom layer of pebbles or marbles in the initial pot. This allows water to drain from the primary container into the second without the plant sitting in water. "Fill the container with a soiless mixture of peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. Most garden centers carry this mixture. Just check the bag's ingredients," McLellan says.