Skip to main content

Growing Indoors Over Winter

Nov 20, 2016 ● By Holly and Joey Baird

There are two types of gardeners; the outdoor gardener and the year-round gardener. The outdoor gardener works the soil in the spring, plants, harvests and is usually done by mid-October. Year-round gardeners perform the same activities as the outdoor gardener and do their best to extend the season by using cold frames and low tunnels to get as much out of the season as possible, sometimes even harvesting outdoors in the winter months.

         For some year-round gardeners, a decision is made to shut down the outdoor garden when it becomes too much of a challenge to keep everything going and move indoors to grow over the harshest months of winter. The variety of crops may be limited, but they can be produced on a scale that suits the individual gardener. There are several ways to garden indoors; from very inexpensive to a higher cost that becomes more of a long-term investment. What can be grown indoors is determined by the method used.

         A southern-facing window is the least expensive way to grow indoors. This works well with basil, thyme, sage and geraniums in hanging pots, which may be recycled from previous years. Herbs are a wonderful choice in an area that gets low sunlight, meaning about three to five hours of daylight. Herbs can also be grown in east- and west-facing windows if a southern exposure isn’t available. It’s not advisable to grow herbs or other plants in a north-facing window, as this does not provide enough daylight for the plants, especially during the shortest days of the year. Because they are more costly if purchased fresh at the store, herbs make a great addition to grow for the home cook over winter. Even a dwarf citrus or fruit tree may produce fruit year-round indoors.

         Another option is an LED grow light, such as the new compact system from the Oregon, Illinois, company HappyLeaf (HappyLeafLED.com). One advantage of using LEDs over fluorescent tube lights is that LEDs do not dim over time. Tube lights are recommended to be replaced every two to five years, while LEDs will last for up to 50,000 hours, do not contain mercury and can cover three times the surface space of a tube light. LED lights are small and compact, and can be hung under a table or over plants to grow herbs and greens, for starting seeds and even growing tomatoes and peppers to full maturity with some additional accessories, as well as other vegetables.

         Another option to grow indoors over the long winter is a complete indoor growing system, such as an Eco Garden House (EcoGardenHouse.com), which fits into a spare bedroom or basement area. These types of enclosed systems contain grow lights, an irrigation system, thermostat, fans, light timers and climate control. For many gardeners, this would be considered an investment in winter gardening, with a typical monthly energy use cost of about $20 a month. Yet a system like this allows for a wide variety of crops. Plants such as cucumbers, zucchini and melons can be grown successfully, but require hand pollination to be successful.

         Plants fall under three categories: long day, short day and neutral day. Attempting to grow a short day plant adjacent to a long day plant will not be successful because one will produce a vegetable and the other will only flower. This is because some plants are used to thriving during longer periods of sunlight and some are used to short periods of sunlight; just as when growing outdoors, some plants are best planted in the spring or summer because of the shorter amount of daylight, while others are planted around the peak of the summer for longer amounts of daylight. It takes a large indoor growing system to successfully cultivate a combination of plants indoors in the winter. Some candidates include tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, Swiss chard, basil and kale.

         These are three great ways to grow indoors in any season. Based on household budget and level of interest in growing, indoor gardening can successfully yield a year-round gardening experience.

 

Joey & Holly Baird are the founders of The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener, an online how-to resource for home gardeners. For information on vegetable gardening and more, visit TheWisconsinVegetableGardener.com.