Countertop Vegetable Gardens: Grow Veggies Indoors Year-Round

Just because it’s cold outside, doesn’t mean that gardeners don’t yearn to grow food. Thanks to handy gadgets like AeroGardens, it’s possible to grow just about any fruit or veggie indoors nowadays. And you can often grow vegetables right on your countertop.

The book Countertop Gardens: Easily Grow Kitchen Edibles Indoors for Year-Round Enjoyment gives you plenty of direction for growing your own indoor garden. Author Shelly Levis started countertop gardening years ago when she was living in a two-bedroom apartment with the only outdoor space being a tiny balcony.

Over the years, she has learned to grow just about any veggie indoors. She even got an education in horticulture and started a business as a small space indoor garden designer for chefs. Her starting point, a flat whose only outdoor space was a tiny balcony, is one that many indoor growers share. In that kind of home, the glazing does a lot of the work, because a well-sealed balcony door brings in the light that herbs and salad crops need while keeping cold draughts off them. A shelf just inside that door is often the brightest growing spot in the whole apartment.

Given the easy to use indoor gardening tools today, including grow light systems, it’s much easier to have a bountiful indoor vegetable garden harvest than it was in year’s past, says Levis.

The book is chock full of easy and effective ways to grow your own produce indoors. In addition to planting in soil in a wide variety of containers, Levis covers growing aquaponically. She offers good advice for converting soil growing plants so that they thrive in water. There’s also info on growing plants from seed.

The “Growing Basics” chapter covers important information on topics like proper lighting, including the role of photosynthesis. There are tips on fertilizing, watering, and the importance of soil pH.

If you’re wondering what types of plants to grow in your indoor garden, the chapter, “Best Edibles for Countertop Gardens,” will clear things up for you. The book includes a wide variety of edibles ideal for indoor growing, including microgreens and sprouts. You’ll also learn how to grow other favorites like carrots, radishes, onions, potatoes, peppers, strawberries, determinate tomatoes, herbs, mushrooms, ginger, and edible flowers.

When you grow tasty produce indoors, you need recipes, so you can enjoy the veggies. Levis offers recipes throughout the book. These include a tomato and sprout sandwich, creamy cilantro dressing, dianthus syrup, and an egg and cress sandwich.

See examples of the many types of containers you can use to grow vegetables as houseplants. Essentially, you can let your imagination take over. It’s possible to grow in hanging baskets, for instance, as well as grow bags. Or simply root and grow various veggies in Mason jars. There’s even a how-to on planting and growing a space-saving terra-cotta stacked planter.  Countertop Gardens offers a plethora of options for growing vegetables indoors at any time of the year.