How To Start Your Garden Indoors

Even here in Florida our winter temperatures can be erratic making it hard to garden, especially here in North Florida where we can have 70+ degrees one day only to hit the 30s the next. Still, we are fortunate, because we can grow things all year round, even if it is not always our favorites.

Despite our long growing season, I always have a starter table inside, because with the hot temperatures come critters and bugs, and it can be quite difficult to start a mango tree outside, when the squirrels keep on digging out the mango pits etc. 

So, over the years I have worked on perfecting my indoor garden, so that I always have something to plant out. 

After the successful plant sale this year, I have extended our indoor growing area to include two southern facing windows.

The kids get to help, when they want to, and they certainly know where their fruits and veggies come from. Just this past weekend the younger kids found a new favorite, when they tried a yellow dragonfruit for the first time. They carefully helped retrieve enough seeds to plant in the mini greenhouse, and then they got to eat the remaining fruit. 

Starting your garden indoors does not have to cost a thing, and besides the food we eat, all we spend is a little money on some good organic starting soil. We use empty food containers to grow in, and in 90 percent of the cases, we use seeds from foods that we eat and grow.

How To Make An Indoor Growing Area:

1. Choose a window with bright light (preferably a southern window).
2. Set up a table, or simply a couple of bins.
3. Create a waterproof area if possible. A clear bin, especially an under-the-bed bin works great.
4. If you don't have much warmth in the house, creating a garden in a clear bin with a lid will give you extra warmth and humidity. Just make sure to poke some holes in the lid to keep the area ventilated. 
5. Save your food containers, and create mini greenhouses out of any container with a clear lid for those plants that need extra warmth to start.
6. Remember that if you plant more than a few seeds in a container, you will eventually need to replant the plants, which then demand more growing space.
7. Quality soil is important, so that you don't have to deal with a lot of flies etc., so this is one area that you may want to spend money on.
   
8. Make sure that while you have easy access to your growing area, little kids and animals do not. 
   
9. Because the plants will grow in the direction of the light, turn your containers at least once a week.
10. Add reflective foil pans on the backside to reflect the light.
11. Once a week or more, brush over your plants with your hand to give them harsher living conditions.
12. Start hardening off your plants, by putting them outside once in a while 1 - 2 weeks before planting out.

As we are preparing for our spring garden at The Land, at our house and for our first spring plant sale as well as for our plant gifts for friends, family and neighbors at Christmas, our indoor starter gardens are bursting with plants at all stages. 

 

 

So far we have several types of tomatoes and peppers, many different citrus trees, basil, passions fruit vines, yellow and pink dragon fruit, roselle hibiscus, pomegranate trees, a tamarind tree, avocado trees and much much more.

Once the plants get to a certain size, we try to move as many as possible out to our temporary greenhouse, so that we have room to grow more inside, and it is also an important step for us in acclimating our plants so that they will manage better and not get shocked by the change in temperature once we put them outside.

Do you have an indoor starter garden?