As December rolls in and the snow starts to fall, usually, this means the gardening season is over--usually. But what if that urge to plant is keeping you up at night, and the longing to just grow something stopping you in your tracks? What if I told you there's a way to grow fresh juicy red tomatoes all year long? Would you be interested?
Guess what--there is, and the way to do it is cheap, simple, space-effective, and just all around fun. I'm not talking about magic tricks or a spell you can put on your plants to resist the cold, I'm talking about cold hard facts and evidence that not only can tomatoes grow indoors with zero natural light--but they can thrive.
That's right, a tomato plant can grow without any natural light source. Maybe you've already got an inkling onto what I mean, or maybe you've never heard of "grow lights". No, I'm not talking about the expensive, bulky, hot, and energy inefficient incandescent grow lights, I'm talking about the new and modern LED grow lights that not only last longer but conserve more energy, stay cool, are much more slim and compact, and are cheap. I mean $15 cheap!
LED grow lights are so energy-conserving, you can plug them into any USB ports like your computer, and you'll never notice any increase on your energy bill, all why supporting a thriving and diverse organic ecosystem that purifies your air, reduces stress, and provides you with fresh juicy red tomatoes. It sounds almost too good to be true!
Trust me, I wouldn't be giving you any of these secrets if I didn't personally know they worked. A little bit about me; I had the urge and need to grow a garden too, but it was already too late. Winter had hit with her full force, and devastated what garden I had left. So, being the ingenuitive thinker I am, I got creative. With no heated greenhouse and no funds, I decided to renovate my 1½ square foot cubby space into a tomato greenhouse and nursery. A few months later and her I am, with a thriving micro tomato garden and ready to showcase it to the world.
It's 100% in your power to do the same!
Step 1: Choose Your Space
The first step in growing a garden indoors, is to choose your space. The smaller the space you choose, the more attention and effort you'll have to put into it to make sure the plants don't overgrow their area. If you have a space with enough height to grow an entire tomato plant (or any kind of plant you want to grow), then that's where you should grow. But if not, (because it's all about space) you can choose an area too small to grow a full size plant, and watch your plant closely, trimming and pruning as often as it needs. Once you have a viable space, then you can move on to step two.
Step 2: Choose Your Plant
Not only do plants come in millions of different species, but they also come in hundreds of varieties. For example; there are cherry tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are much smaller, while beefsteaks are the size of your entire hand. Growing a beefsteak tomato plant would take more space than the cherry tomato. As a general rule of thumb, choose the smallest variety of your ideal plant. A good starter plant is lettuce. Your plant should at least be able to grow half of it's full size scale. Meaning, if the plant normally grows 12 inches, it should at bare minimum have 6 inches of space to grow into.
When choosing your plant, make sure to take into account its root growth. Does it have a large underground root system? If so, you'll need a much larger pot, and therefore more space. As another rule of thumb, each plant should have at least a 4 inch pot to grow into, but they can be started in a much smaller pot, then transplanted. I started my plants in 2.5 inch pots, but even 1 inch pots will work for the first couple weeks. Here's a tip, you can use old sour cream or cottage cheese containers as the perfect pot, just make sure to add drainage holes!
Step 3: Choose Your Plant's Diet
What, a plant's diet? What's that?! Simply put, it's just what soil, water, and fertilizer you'll be using for your plant. No, fertilizer is not required, but when growing a plant with no natural light, added plant food such as fertilizer can help sustain the plant and grow it better. I personally used a potting soil meant to absorb water and protect my plants against over-watering. This is because over-watering potted plants is very easy, and now I don't have to worry about it. For each of my pots I added plant food pellets and after a month of growth, I put them on a weekly plant food watering diet. Of course, I made sure to water the plants any time they felt dry to the touch.
Any fertilizers or plant foods you use are extras, and not required to grow the plant, especially if you're tight on a budget.
Step 4: Choose Your Lighting
Just like making sure your plants receive adequate lighting outdoors is important, it's even more so indoors. Your plants will only get as much light as you give them, which can be both good and bad. If your plants don't receive enough light (around 8 hours a day for most plants) their growth will be stunted. If they receive too much light, (over 12 hours a day for most plants) they'll never have time to metabolize the food produced in photosynthesis, which occurs at night.
So, if your plant is by a large enough window, and receives at least 8 hours of light a day--you're good! But if not, or you're going to grow your plants with zero natural light, giving you full control over your plants growth rate and you don't have to worry about cloudy days, then you'll need to purchase artificial lighting, or grow lights. As I stated earlier, I highly recommend you purchase some LED grow lights, as almost every aspect of them are better for your plants. Here's a tip; the grow light does not need to be white, or sun colored, in fact, I've grown my plants 100% on a mixture of blue and pink grow lights, without ever having any issues. It all depends on the light temperature science, which most grow light manufactures have done the work on researching already.
Purchase the kind of LED grow lights that work best for you. I've used LED grow light strips, as they are thinner and can be stuck to any surface at any angle, and as a bonus, they look like modern RGB lights used for decoration!
When using grow lights, there is a downside. You must carefully watch the intensity and position of the light. If the light is too close to the plant, or too hot, it will wilt the plant and eventually kill it. If the light is angled away from the plant, the plant won't be able to receive enough light to complete photosynthesis, which is how a plant produces food. It's all about monitoring your plant's health, and adjusting accordingly. The general rule for grow light placement is having the light at least 16 inches away from your plants, and don't run the light on the highest intensity. I run my lights at about 50% intensity.
Tip; if your plants seem to be stretching far in any direction to reach the light, then the light is not angled correctly, or too far away. Having multiple lights can increase the coverage of your plants.
Step 5: Plant!
Yay, you've made it! Now that you have your space, your plants, your pots, your soil, and your lighting, you're ready to start your very first indoor garden, or as I like to call it, your micro garden. Fill your pots with soil all the way to the top, to make sure your plants get all the root space they can. Next, plant the seeds at their recommended depths in the soil (most are around 1/4 inch deep). Lightly cover the seed with soil and gently water, until the soil is slightly moist. Put the plants in their desired location, and turn on your lighting, or let the sun do its work. Within 1-2 weeks, you should see your first sprouts!
I can't wait to see your indoor gardens! Make sure to share how it's going on the forum. Cheers!!
The Tomato Tips, Living out a greener more sustainable future, one day at a time.
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