Can anything be planted inside during the winter months and actually produce (veggie)

[alotofgooddeals]

I am wondering if one could grow a tomato plant inside and have it actually produce. What else could you grow inside......I know that it would have to have plenty of sun etc......so i think it would work....

[Lindsay E]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have a feeling tomatoes would be difficult to grow indoors. Only because I would assume you would need to pollinate the flowers to produce fruit. Maybe a vegetable where you eat other parts of the plant would be a better choice. I've never tried it, but maybe lettuce or herbs would work well?

[mombottoo]

The answer to your question would be yes, but you would have to pollinate the flowers yourself since you wouldn't have the bees & butterflies to do it for you. Many of our store vegetables are grown in hot houses during the winter...they must have a way to make it work or they wouldn't be able to do it.

Research on the net & see what you come up with. Herbs are easy to grow in the house...never tried anything else.

[ritabelle]

I know tomatoes have to be a certain temperature to fruit -- I don't usually keep my house that warm anyway. But I have heard that if you plant a turnip in a pot and place in a southern exposure window, it'll produce greens all winter long. Also herbs and lettuces should work, probably spinach, all like cooler temps anyway.

[Brat]

Tomatoes and bell peppers but you do have to pollinate them with a paint brush or something. Lettcue, spinish, all herbs, carrottts in the right kind of pots. You have to have a place that is warm and has a lot of light. It takes quite a bit of room really to do it too. It is also quite a bit of work too...I can't grow a lot but it is really nice to have a tomato or bell pepper with my salad...from my sunroom...

[Grainlady]

I've grown spinach, leaf lettuce, herbs (brought in from the garden) and tomatoes indoors. Even a few small 8-inch pots will yield a lot of leaf lettuce and spinach because you get multiple cuttings.

I used a special variety of tomatoes for growing indoors:
Red Robin Tomatoes
I got the seeds from www.containerseeds.com

Most things grow much more slowly indoors, grow best in a nice sunny south window, or using a grow light. You will want to start things well before your outdoor garden is done so you can begin harvesting indoors when it's done outdoors.

I have two AeroGradens and you can grow a plethora of things in them - herbs, greens, cherry tomatoes, chili peppers, strawberries... But only one thing per garden.

http://www.aerogardenstore.com/promo...e=homepage&r=1

I grew the cherry tomatoes in the AeroGarden once. It takes 10-12 weeks before you harvest them, so I suggest starting them late summer, and they will yield for several months.

The problem with the AeroGarden is that they use a LOT of electricity compared to the amount of produce you get.

I consider growing bean/grain/seed sprouts in a glass canning jar my little "garden in a jar", and one great (and inexpensive) way to add fresh food to your winter diet.

How to Grow Tomatoes Indoors
http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-or...-tomatoes.html

Growing Vegetables and Fruit Indoors
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art15693.asp

[mauimagic]

Good points - think it would really be a boost to grow things indoors during this challenging winter that the mainland is experiencing!!

[Incognito]

I love plants, and over the years I've enjoyed many varieties of house plants. I also love gardening, and really hate to see the season end in the fall. So I've tried many times to get things to grow indoors.
There was the year I tried lettuce in a bin. It sprouted, got spindly, then very tall and spindly, then fell over and died.
I tried herbs. Usually they didn't make it past the sprouting stage, and quickly succumbed to damping-off. Nothing saved them, not even the expensive fungicides.
I tried removing the small potted plants from the patio, hardening them off to my warmer house, but after a few weeks inside they all died, one by one.
I tried removing cuttings from my patio container plants and rooting them, and then planting them indoors, and they tried to live for a few weeks, and then died.
I've watched over them carefully, not too much sun, not too much heat, not too much water, and they still died.
I lifted my best flowers carefully in the fall, and transplanted them and kept them in the basement for awhile (due to the insects), then moved them to my sunny living room, where their blooms cheered me for a few weeks, but after that they died.

Then I grew some Sweet 100 tomato plants, and brought them inside, and they struggled to live in front of my warmest window.
I set them on a metal shelving unit, and turned them and protected them from drafts, and they thrived. They grew and grew, and finally outgrew their pots. I repotted them and staked them with yardsticks. They grew and grew and budded and I pollinated every bloom. They grew little green tomatoes, and then mites took over and infested them. I then regularly sprayed them with water in the bathtub, and for a few weeks it looked like they might make it, but the mites wouldn't give up, and the tomatoes died.

Now, in a real greenhouse, there are the right temps and enough light, and lots of fans aerating the plants so they develop a strong root system and sturdy growth instead of getting spindly. Pesticides, fungicides are applied as often as the owners see fit (I don't use them now).
I have also tried growing garden plants indoors while bolstering them with UV lights and a small portable fan. (You know the rest.)

A couple of years ago, I saw the AeroGarden on the internet, and of course it revived my gardening bent; but then I saw the price, so I just went to the store and bought some lettuce there.

The End

[frugalfranny]

I've grown some herbs inside in the winter --so. window and if we don't get enough sun I have used grow light.

Too far north - and too much trouble.

[mauimagic]

Incognito - that was a lovely and well done history of your experience with growing things indoors - you really had it all down - hope it didn't scar you for life!! Mahalo!!

[dkmommy]

Always wondered about doing this! Sounds like more than my brown thumbs can handle. We have a veggie garden out back, and although I do grow herbs indoors, it's quite a trick in our house. The winter sun never makes it through a single window! Bad, bad house design but here we are anyway. So I too am stuck purchasing my veggies until summer. Maybe someday I can set up an outdoor greenhouse. I wonder how difficult that would be on a small scale?