How To Grow Food Indoors Year-Round

Few things are more satisfying than growing your own food. Did you know you can grow a small garden indoors? Herbs, strawberries, tomatoes, and vegetables can all be grown indoors. Here I’ll show you how to grow food indoors year-round.

Dream of snipping your own herbs as you cook? You can. Make a salad with cherry tomatoes from your own plants? You can.

Organic and Non-GMO

You can actually buy organic seeds and grow your own organic, non-GMO food. You control the fertilizer and you most likely don’t need pesticides when growing indoors. I’ll show you several methods that don’t take up a lot of room and some that have their own grow lights so you don’t need to worry about having a sunny window either.

Whether you’re living in a small apartment or have your own home, you can grow your own organic and non-GMO food indoors year-round. I started with some herbs on my windowsill since I have good light there.

To get started, I planted chive seeds in soil in a small pot and basil in a hydroponic growing pot. That got me started and I haven’t stopped yet. I’ll show you my countertop garden in the section below.

Methods of Growing A Garden Indoors

We’ll start with the basics and move into more modern methods.

Standard Pots

Herbs are especially easy to grow in soil pots on a windowsill or with grow lights if you don’t have enough sun. Just follow the directions on your seed packet. Use high-quality potting soil for best results. Use Miracle-Gro Plant Food for Vegetables and Herbs per instructions.

Here’s a unique, space-saving potting system you can use indoors or out:

Hydroponic Herb Starter Kits

It doesn’t get any easier than herb-growing starter kits. Everything is included so you can get your herbs growing right away. Take your pick of different herb combinations. I started my basil with a kit like this and it’s producing like crazy! Click on the picture to take a look at this one on Amazon.

Hydroponic means growing in water instead of soil. It’s a lot less messy and super easy.

Self-Watering Microgreens Growing Kits

Microgreens are a great way to add some concentrated nutrients to salads, sandwiches, or in smoothies. They are available in soil-based or hydroponic kits. Shown is a soil-based kit from True Leaf Market. I love the variety they have for beginning indoor gardeners.

Self Watering Microgreens Kit – Soil Based…

This soil based microgreens kit is a fast, easy and fun way to grow your own microgreen… [More]

Hydroponic Growing Systems with LED Grow Lights

There are several options for complete hydroponic growing systems. They come with everything you need to get started, even plant food. Some come with seeds. I chose one that didn’t have seeds but I like choosing exactly what I want in my garden.

I purchased this Lyko system. It has full spectrum LED grow lights. The lights can be raised to a maximum of 19″. This is taller than a lot of the other brands. It can turn the lights on and off automatically. You choose vegetables or flower settings. And it has 12 pods for different varieties of fruits, vegetables, or herbs.

Here is my Lyko garden three weeks after planting:

I couldn’t believe how fast everything grows. They do include some plant food and the sponge medium for growing.

Aerogarden has some unique and really interesting hydroponic garden systems. Their models alert you when you need to add water, add plant food, and the lights turn on and off automatically. Definitely check their models out. They also include seeds with their kits and Miracle Grow plant food.

If you really want to go big, they have this and even bigger systems for indoor gardening:

These gardening systems make it so easy to start growing several vegetables, herbs, or even fruits on your countertop or wherever it is convenient. Most have a small footprint so don’t take up a lot of room.

Wrapping Up

With all the choices in indoor gardening these days, you can absolutely grow your own food indoors, year-round. Grow lights have evolved from high-wattage hanging lights to low-wattage LED’s, making it possible to have them anywhere you want to grow plants.

I hope you found these indoor gardening ideas helpful. Imagine growing your own herbs and veggies indoors, even through the winter. There’s no better way to eat fresh and organic.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you. You can leave them in the Comments section below. Thank you!