Gardening for Food Security - Indoor Gardening Project Part 3 - The Experiment Worked!
I'm so happy to have an indoor garden this season, for our outdoor gardening season was cut short this year with a killing frost the end of August and real cool weather in September.
I had been planning to grow indoors for some time thinking I would bring in a few potted plants and start some seeds to grow under the lights.
With the sudden change in the weather I noticed there was a number of smaller plants that weren't growing much out doors so I decided to dig them up and pot them up to come indoors.
Fresh Dug Lettuce and Malabar Spinach Plants Potted Up to Bring Indoors
I started with the small lettuce plants and Malabar spinach figuring they had shallow enough roots that they would probably transplant okay.
Those first plants I dug up were doing so well and the temperatures outside were still not warming up much so I decided to dig out and bring in my celery plants, some parsley plants, and some rhubarb chard plants.
To my amazement they all thrived in the warmth and being under the LED full spectrum grow light. Wahoo!
Lettuce and Celery Plants Now Thriving Under the Lights in the Warmth
Since these plants were doing so well I decided to dig out a few of the smaller kale plants and sure enough once they got into the warmth and under the grow lights they started to thrive too! H-m-m-m! I still have some kale growing outdoors under the row covers perhaps I'll bring in a few more.
Time to Bring in the Green Onions
The last plants I bought in were my pots of green onions. I had started these from the scraps of the green onions - the bottom root part of the green onion which is usually thrown away.
Growing Green Onions From Scraps
Directions - cut off the base with the roots intact and put it into a container of water in direct sunlight. Change the water every few days and it won’t be long before the green part will start to regrow.
At this point I plant them in a pot up into some potting soil. they will give a continuous feed of green onions. You can cut off the green part and they will keep growing back.
I have my seeds to start some fresh plants. I want to maximize what I'm growing under the big LED grow light so when plants get past there prime I can replace them with new seedlings started in my light stand set up with florescent grow lights. that way I can keep a continuous flow of healthy plants growing.
Right now I'm able to pick fresh greens and herbs most every day and I do love my fresh green salads!
See part 1 and 2 of Gardening for Food Security - Indoor Gardening Project at:
This is my entry for @simplymike SteemIt Community Garden Journal Challenge 6 - October 2018
If you are doing any indoor gardening I'd love to hear about it!
Photos were taken with my Canon Powershot A495
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Awesome! About how much space are you using to get a daily crop? That's really great!
I have a 4 foot x 4 foot table for my main growing area directly under the light. This is totally covered with greens. I really focused on making sure the plants I am growing are productive and I'm making good use of the space. I do have plants that don't need as much light on the floor around it like green onions and parsley.
I grow all my spring onions from scraps, and just cut them off at the base so they re-grow. Such a cool plant like that. I'm so amazed that the plants transplanted so well!! So cool. Love what you're doing here!
Ya, I don't think I'll ever have to buy green onions again, they just keep regrowing. I was so happy the plants are doing so well indoors and that I can go pick a fresh salad. I want get my seedlings started to keep a rotation going so I have a continuous supply of fresh food for the winter. I really do miss my greens in the winter otherwise and I refuse to buy them from the stores, for you don't know what goes into them, and what they've been sprayed with.
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Cool to see how you were able to make the best out of a short season.
I learned last winter that growing with LED indoors works great. It won't be long before I will put my propagator to work again and will set everything up to start growing indoors again.
Things are growing very well on the LED lights but it's such a weird light - an eerie pink glow! We balance it out with a small high pressure sodium grow light my husband had (not as economical to grow with) I like this light for combating the S.A.D. syndrome with our long winters - get to grow food and be happy!
Fantastic! I love the snow shot through your greens! How do you find the indoor versus outdoor? More maintenance or easier? Must be less stressful through winter @porters
I've been wanting to grow fresh food all four seasons for a long time and now I can! This is easier to maintain in that the plants are on benches so easier to get at. We have to haul water in for there is no rain from Mother Nature indoors. We have 2 big barrels indoors that we filled with rainwater (had to dump the rain barrels outside for it was freezing to hard) Then we bring in snow to melt to water the plants. I'm really loving having the light from the grow light . I think it helps with the S.A.D. from the lack of light here in the winter. Nothing grows outdoors in the winter for it goes to 30 degrees below Celsius so I am very happy to have been able to bring some of my gardening indoors. this is our house in the winter - I am growing in the sun room attached to the front of the house.
Wow @porters. I know it must be freezing but it is beautiful! What a lovely photo. Sounds like you have worked out a good system. The grow light is a fantastic idea. Well done. You are inspiring