Green City Grow Away Your Winter Blues

With the Winter Solstice around the corner and snow already on the ground in Boston, it may be tough to think of springtime in your garden, let alone conceive of beautiful vegetables growing from it. But the seasons will march on, and before we’ve thawed out from this winter, you can get started growing indoors and prepare for when spring has finally sprung!

Container Gardening

If you have limited sun or space where you live or work, why not get a jump-start on the growing season and try container gardening? Milk crates offer an excellent way to make maximal use of minimal space, and you will be surprised by how much you can grow. Best of all, milk crates are incredibly modular. You can easily add more to increase your growing space, you can stack them to prevent backaches from bending down, and you can start your growing now and move the crates outside when it’s sunny and warm!

A milk crate is just one option for container gardening; clay pots offer a stylish and attractive option. If neither of these strikes you as particularly exciting, you can always set out to build your own container. So long as you are making sure that the container is large enough to support a fully grown plant, and that it holds soil while providing adequate drainage, the possibilities for creativity are nearly endless!

Crops That Thrive Indoors

Certain crops will grow better indoors than others. Most herbs, including cilantro and mint will do well with less sunlight. Compact plants like lettuce, carrots and radishes will grow, although they will do so more slowly than outside. You will certainly want to pay extra attention to the amount of light your plants are getting. Fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers will almost certainly require additional, artificial, light in order to prosper.

Maintaining Your Indoor Garden

Water your plants as you would outside, though pay keen attention to soil moisture. Because air indoors tends to be drier, the soil will likely dry out faster than it would normally. Pests pose a smaller issue than they do outdoors, though you may occasionally stumble upon mites, whiteflies, mealybugs or aphids.

Interested in learning more in 2018?
Register for the 2018 Urban Farming Course, an intensive hands-on weekend program with GCG’s team of Horticultural Specialists, designed to give you the skills you need to grow food at home and in the community. Participants leave with an in-depth knowledge of course topics. Space is limited, register early to ensure your seat!