When Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog’s Day, we had no idea just how rough his six weeks of forecasted winter would be. With feet of snow still blanketing Boston, it may be tough to think of your garden, let alone conceive of beautiful vegetables growing from it. But the snow will melt eventually, and before we’ve thawed out, you can get started growing indoors and prepare for when spring has finally sprung!
Container Gardening
If you have limited sun or space where you live or work, why not get a jump-start on the growing season and try container gardening? Milk crates offer an excellent way to make maximal use of minimal space, and you will be surprised by how much you can grow. Best of all, milk crates are incredibly modular. You can easily add more to increase your growing space, you can stack them to prevent backaches from bending down, and you can start your growing now and move the crates outside when it’s sunny and warm!
A milk crate is just one option for container gardening; clay pots offer a stylish and attractive option. If neither of these strikes you as particularly exciting, you can always set out to build your own container. So long as you are making sure that the container is large enough to support a fully grown plant, and that it holds soil while providing adequate drainage, the possibilities for creativity are nearly endless!
Crops That Thrive Indoors
Certain crops will grow better indoors than others. Most herbs, including cilantro and mint will do well with less sunlight. Compact plants like lettuce, carrots and radishes will grow, although they will do so more slowly than outside. You will certainly want to pay extra attention to the amount of light your plants are getting. Fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers will almost certainly require additional, artificial, light in order to prosper.
Maintaining Your Indoor Garden
Water your plants as you would outside, though pay keen attention to soil moisture. Because air indoors tends to be drier, the soil will likely dry out faster than it would normally. Pests pose a smaller issue than they do outdoors, though you may occasionally stumble upon mites, whiteflies, mealybugs or aphids.
We are covering all of this and more at our Container Gardening 101 workshop on March 18th! Seating is limited, so make sure to sign up ahead of time to secure your spot. While spring might seem years away, chase away winter blues with lessons from the GCG team. You will be successfully growing vegetables and fruits indoors and out in a few short weeks!
