I made this cute little sort of greenhouse last year. It lives indoors and turns a dark hallway into a bright, productive little growing area. I use it mostly to start seeds in the spring, and to keep a few extra house plants alive in the winter, when the sun doesn’t penetrate as far into the house. I would like to get more year round use out of it though, and try growing vegetables indoors in the winter.
To be entirely honest, I am having a rough start to 2024. We have been dealing with a lot of lingering sickness as a family and it has really derailed our normal routines. Most years I take an extra week off of school at the beginning of January and use it to really thoroughly declutter my house. I have still made good progress, and am trying very hard to focus on how much I have managed to get done, but knowing that any future progress will be much slower and have to fit around our regular life stuff is a bit discouraging.
Add onto that that I am seeing all of these pictures and videos about seed starting from gardeners in warmer climates and I am longing to grow something as a distraction.
My “greenhouse” doesn’t have all that much space between shelves, so I have been wracking my brain for short things I can plant.
Right now I am leaning heavily towards cut and come again salad greens. I have seen people sow them in an undivided tray and just give them a trim when they want to harvest them. I will probably try sowing two trays of mixed greens so that I can alternate which one I harvest.
For herbs I definitely want some basil. There is absolutely no thing as too much of that! Oddly enough I am a little bit stuck after that. I have enough dried herbs from the summer to not really need any more at this point in the year. I might start some chives though, they can easily be cut and regrown.
My absolute dream would be to grow a small tomato plant in there. Imagine having a fresh tomato in the middle of winter? That is definitely way too large of a plant for my little shelves though! Know any short varieties I should try?
Sprouts are always popular, and definitely short. I have grown them in a bit of soil before, to avoid having to remember to rinse them or change the water. My kids call them micro-snacks instead of micro greens, and like the spicy little radish sprouts best.
What would you try to grow in my place? I want plants that are low maintenance, and that don’t take forever to grow. I am mainly looking for a bit of a pick me up on grey winter days, and a bit of fresh veg at a time of year when the grocery store offerings are looking fairly drab. Do you have any indoor favorites?
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