There are tons of easy apartment vegetables to grow that thrive indoors, provided you’ve got the space to give them plenty of light.
Three flavor-packed, beginner-friendly vegetable crops that’ll kick off your kitchen garden: broccoli, microgreens, and cucumbers.
Unlike their larger, traditional cousins, sprouting broccoli produces multiple, smaller heads of this vegetable, making this a fantastic crop for small spaces.
Sprouting Broccoli
This hardy, cold-weather crop is also usually sweeter and more tender, making it perfect for more delicate cooking methods like stir-fries or pasta dishes.
Sowing
With so many varieties of sprouting broccoli available, the typical sowing time can vary. Normally, you’ll need to sow sprouting broccoli four to eight weeks before the last frost of the year as some varieties require cold weather to flower. Different varieties can better tolerate the heat.
Sow the seeds into modular trays with two seeds to each cell. Ensure you give the seedlings plenty of sunlight by placing them on a windowsill with full sun. If you’re struggling for natural light, you can make a lightbox by sticking some tinfoil on the room side of the tray to reflect light back at the seedlings.
Water your seedlings every two days if the weather is mild and cool, or twice a day on hot days.
Planting
When your seedlings germinate, reduce competition by removing the weaker sprout from each cell by cutting it with scissors.
When your seedlings are large enough, you can plant them into a window planter or any other shallow planter, provided that it’s deep enough for you to plant the whole seedling plug from the modular tray. Ensure each seedling has roughly 18” of space – again, check the growing instructions on the packet because some varieties are larger than others.
Harvesting
This crop requires a fair bit of patience as it will take at least 180 days for this plant to fully mature. That means you can expect to harvest varieties sown in winter in the summer, and vice versa.
Harvest once they reach at least 6” tall.
Microgreens
This is one of the most popular crops for indoor growers because they’re usually ready to harvest within weeks and they’re packed with vitamins and nutrients. Plus, their small size makes them easy to add to almost any dish.
The great thing about microgreens is that pretty much any type of plant works for this, so no worries if you don’t like certain veggies! You can buy microgreen mixes or you can also easily grow microgreens from seeds you’ve got left over from previous harvests.
Sowing
For this, you’ll need a shallow seed tray at least 1” deep. Fill the tray with around 1” of soil and smooth it over.
Sow your seed mix thicker than you would for outdoor planting. Cover the seeds with soil, and spritz the soil with water from a spray bottle. The soil should be hydrated, but not soggy. Spritz the seeds a few times a day.
Place your seed trays on a windowsill that gets plenty of sunlight and, ideally, somewhere that’s comfortably warm. This will help the seeds to germinate.
Harvesting
You can harvest your microgreens when they’re 2” – 4” tall by cutting them just above the soil level. This can take anywhere from five days to a month, depending on the varieties you’ve planted. Delicious and easy apartment vegetables to grow truly shine during harvesting!
Cucumbers
Certain varieties of cucumber, like bush cucumber, are well-suited for indoor growing because they have shorter, sturdier vines, and thrive in plastic or ceramic pots that help the soil retain moisture.
Sowing
Sow cucumbers between February and April. Ideally, cucumbers should be sown in a propagator to maintain heat and moisture to help the seedlings grow. Place your propagator on a windowsill that gets plenty of sunlight and is fairly warm, but not too hot.
Once your seedlings are a few inches tall, plant them out into pots, making sure to leave 45cm between each plant.
Planting
Indoor cucumbers need a 1 foot deep ceramic or plastic pot that’s at least 20” wide with at least four drainage holes at the base. Because this plant loves moisture, you should also choose a soil or compost variety that can hold onto water for longer. Place the pot somewhere in full sun that’s warm, but not too hot. Keeping your plants above 53 – 59 F is crucial.
Cucumbers are also climbing plants, so you’ll need to use canes and plant ties to encourage upward growth.
In addition to regular watering, you’ll need to mist your cucumber plant as this crop loves high humidity levels. One possibility is to consider misting your cucumbers as part of your morning routine.
Harvesting
Cucumbers are typically ready to harvest from mid-summer to mid-autumn, but indoor varieties may continue to be productive for the full autumn season.
Cucumbers are ripe when they are fully green, firm, and have a slightly rounded tip. Full-size varieties are usually between 6” – 8”, but smaller varieties can ripen at 4”. If they’re yellow, bulbous, or soft, they might be over-ripe and bitter.
Cut ripe fruits from the stem with a sharp knife or scissors. This can encourage further fruiting, but cucumbers can spoil quickly, so we recommend only harvesting as many as you need. Also as you harvest, it can be beneficial to wear safety gloves to protect your fingers and hands.
Growing Vegetables Indoors
These three crops are great for beginner indoor gardeners, but they’re certainly not the only indoor crop that’s out there. Peppers, tomatoes, radishes, and even potatoes can be easy apartment vegetables to grow indoors too, so the only limit to your kitchen garden is how much space you’ve got available for your plants. Happy gardening!