Over the last couple of years, indoor gardening has been booming with a growing surge in decorative and edible houseplants. As such, garden centers now carry more plant products and plant-growing systems than ever to help their customers have success. Unlock your year around apartment garden!
If you’re in a small apartment, you may feel left out. But, with some careful planning, knowing which plants to grow, and a bit of patience, you can be sure to join in on the indoor gardening fun for years to come.
The first step to a beautiful indoor edible garden is figuring out exactly where to put it.
Picking the Right Spot
Before choosing your vegetables or plants, there are a few other considerations to ensure a successful harvest for your year around apartment garden.
Light Source
Your first task is to identify an ideal spot for your indoor garden to get the light it needs. A south-facing window will often provide the brightest and most sun throughout the day. East- or west-facing windows will offer medium light. And north-facing windows will get very little to no light at all. If your apartment offers plenty of natural light, you’re in good shape.
Instead, if your choices for natural sunlight are limited, grow lights make a great option. Not only do they come in all shapes and sizes, but sometimes plants thrive even better under grow lights than they would with sunlight alone. In fact, it’s totally okay to use both! Perhaps you get several hours a day of direct sunlight, but as the day progresses, shadows creep in. A well-placed grow light on a timer might be precisely what you need.
You’ll also want to consider how much space you have. This will help you determine which plants and how many you can grow.
Choosing the Right Container(s)
The next choice you need to make is what type of container(s), planter(s), or hydroponic setup makes sense for you and your apartment.
One Big Planter
If your space is wider than it is tall, or you are trying to put many plants under a row of lights, choosing one big planter might be the best option. The issue with one big planter is that the plants you choose really have to complement each other in their soil type, proximity, and feeding and watering schedules. A few wrong choices could ruin an entire crop of otherwise healthy plants. For this container option, you’ll need to do your research and really pay attention to how plants are holding up throughout the season.
Several Pots, Boxes, or Planters
Many plants require different types of soils, fertilizers, or watering schedules. So, perhaps the best option is to put each plant in its own pot, box, or planter. The apparent difficulty with this option is that it requires more space. But, with a carefully placed shelving system or tiered approach, this setup will enable you to better customize your care. If one of the plants doesn’t make it, it won’t potentially ruin all of them simultaneously.
Hydroponics
Plants need three things to survive: air, water, and nutrients. Hydroponic systems allow gardeners to provide all three, and they allow for vertical growing. Because the primary medium is a water solution and maybe some moss or husks, you won’t have soil taking up space. Less soil means more room for plants. Hydroponic growing is becoming a more popular option for indoor gardeners because it is perfect for small spaces.
Whichever container you choose, simply measure your space to get an approximation of what you can put there.
Choose Your Edible Produce
Choosing which edible produce to grow depends on all the factors mentioned above, but it also depends on what you enjoy eating come harvest time. Some plants just naturally work better together than others. Choosing the wrong combination could make all this prep work for nothing.
Here is a list of common garden plants and what other edible plants work best beside them and some that do not.
| Plant | Tomatoes | Lettuce | Peppers | Garlic |
| Companion Plants | BasilAsparagusCarrotsCeleryOnionsLettuceParsleySpinach | MintBeansBeetsBroccoliCarrotsCornPeasRadishes | BasilOnionsSpinachTomatoes | DillBeetsKaleSpinachPotatoesCarrotsEggplantsPeppersCabbageCauliflowerBroccoliKohlrabiChamomileSummer Savory |
| Keep Away From | CabbageBeetsPeasFennelDillRosemary | Parsley | Beans | AsparagusPeasBeansSageParsley |
| Plant | Green Beans | Onions | Pole (Vine) Beans |
| Companion Plants | CornBeansRosemaryBroccoliBrussels SproutsCabbageCucumberPeasPotatoesRadishes | CarrotsBeetsCabbageLettuceParsnipsTomatoesMarjoramSavoryRosemary | CarrotsCeleryChardCornCucumberEggplantPeasPotatoesRadishStrawberry |
| Keep Away From | BeetsOnions | AsparagusBeansPeas | ChivesGarlicLeeksOnions |
Now that we have a pretty good list of what to grow, let’s dig into three of the friendliest edible plants on that list: Garlic, Beans, and Lettuce.
Garlic
Garlic makes a great companion plant, and it’s an excellent plant to grow indoors because of its flexibility in cooking. A well-planned garlic garden can ensure that you never have to buy garlic from the store again.
Choose Your Variety
Garlic comes in two varieties: softneck and hardneck. Softneck is most commonly grown in gardens and often found at the grocery store. It’s recognizable by its smaller cloves and more papery layers around each bulb. These also don’t have to be chilled before growing indoors.
However, hardneck varieties require 40 days of chilling and don’t store for as long.
Another consideration for garlic is to make sure that you purchase garlic (if planting the cloves) that hasn’t been sprayed with a growth-stunting chemical. Producers use this to prevent growth while in storage because growth lessens the chance that consumers will buy it. To avoid this, choose either organic garlic bulbs or seeds.
Container & Soil
If growing garlic in its own container, you’ll want a box or pot that is 6 to 8 inches deep, with good drainage. Soil should be light–vermiculite or perlite. Use a balanced liquid fertilizer (10-10-10). You can even grow garlic successfully in a hydroponic system. How will depend on the method, but the main goal will be to keep the roots wet while the bulbs stay dry.
Light & Water
Garlic does best in a bright, sunny spot. It can tolerate some shade, but you should give garlic 6 to 8 hours of sun or 12 hours under a grow light. Keep soil or roots moist but not overly wet to avoid rotting.
How to Harvest
Regardless of your planter of choice, shoots will sprout from garlic bulbs in just a week or two. After several weeks, if you do not want to grow garlic for the whole bulb, you can actually snip and harvest leaves to use in cooking as they grow. However, if you want an entire bulb of garlic, you should let the plant fully mature. If your plant produces a curved scape, you’ll want to cut this off to avoid letting the garlic flower. Garlic is ready to harvest after about three months. If planted in regular soil, let the bulbs dry out to prevent rotting, then remove the garlic. If using hydroponics, remove the garlic from its chamber and set it aside.
Storing Garlic
To store garlic long-term, you’ll need to cure it first. Brush off any debris or dirt carefully–as not to bruise the garlic. Hang the garlic in a shaded spot with plenty of ventilation. If the area is humid, trim away the roots to prevent rotting. After 3 to 4 weeks, your garlic will be cured. You can store garlic in a dry spot that still gets air circulation for up to 12 months. Or place individual cloves in olive oil and store them in the freezer.
Care Tips
The biggest problem for growing garlic indoors is overwatering. Rot can take hold of your garlic if watered too often or if the bulb stays too wet for too long. Choose companion plants that also require less watering and whose foliage won’t block air circulation.
A great way to have garlic year-round is to begin another garlic plant immediately after harvesting. Or stagger your planting during the first few months. Always keep a few healthy bulbs to grow for the next round.
Beans
Choose Your Variety
When it comes to beans, you have lots of choices. The best indoor beans to grow include tendercrop, blue lake, purple queen, and dwarf beans. Regardless of which you choose, there are a few best practices to keep in mind.
Container & Soil
Beans grow as either pole beans or bush beans. Bush beans develop bushier foliage and can get a few feet high. This can be an excellent choice if you grow them separately in pots or have a well-lit area. Pole bean varieties grow on vines. This means you’ll have to provide some type of support for the vines to wrap around or risk having them wrap around your other plants instead. Both types can be grown hydroponically as well. Either way, you’ll want a pot or container that is relatively large or rectangular and at least five inches deep to support the root system.
For the soil, you’ll want well-drained, loamy soil that is slightly acidic with a neutral (6.6-7.3) pH level. Beans prefer low-nitrogen mixes, so something like a 5-10-10 fertilizer would do best every couple of weeks during the growing season.
Light & Water
Beans require 6 to 8 hours of sunlight or 12 to 14 hours of grow light per day. They also need temperatures over 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep soil or roots moist but not overly wet and keep foliage dry.
How to Harvest
Harvest your beans after about 90-110 days, or when the plant reaches 16 to 20 inches in height. Your pods should be firm. If growing regular beans, you’ll need to allow time for the beans to dry out. You can do this by hanging the whole bean plant upside down (without the soil) in a warm, dry, and dark location for about a week. Once dry, you can store beans in an airtight container.
Since green beans are eaten when they are young and soft, you do not need to dry them out, and they can be harvested after about 45-75 days. Harvest before the beans are bulging through the pods.
Care Tips
Beans grow best in sunny, dry areas. Use stakes or a trellis to support your beans as they grow. Keep some beans to replant or save for next season.
Lettuce
Lettuces are one of the easiest and best edible plants to grow indoors. Not only are they easy to maintain, but they grow very well alongside many other edible plants.
Choose Your Variety
There are over 800 varieties of lettuce in the US alone. But, there are mainly just four categories: butterhead, crisphead, romaine, and loose-leaf.
Butterhead lettuce is one of the best types to grow indoors. They grow tender small leaves and a loose center. One plant will produce for a long time.
Crisphead lettuce is one of the more challenging types to grow indoors. This lettuce grows in tight balls like cabbage or iceberg lettuce. They also grow slowly.
Romaine lettuce isn’t very heat tolerant and grows in the winter, so romaine makes an excellent option for indoor gardeners.
Loose-leaf lettuce doesn’t form a head. Instead, the leaves sprout up quickly from the soil. You can harvest just one leaf at a time.
Container & Soil
Lettuces are among the most popular hydroponically grown plants because they grow quickly and are easily cared for. If you’ve never tried hydroponics before, lettuce makes a great choice. Otherwise, you’ll want a relatively shallow container that allows good drainage. Choose a good seed starting mix for your soil.
Light & Water
Lettuce likes 6 to 8 hours of sun per day. Temperatures need to stay around 65 to 70 degrees for best results. You’ll also want a spot that doesn’t get too drafty, next to a heater or AC vent. If using grow lights, keep them about six inches away from the tops and use them for 14 hours a day.
Keep soil moist but not soggy. You can feed your lettuce with a high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer.
How to Harvest
After just about a month, you can begin harvesting your lettuce. Use a sharp knife or scissors and cut the outermost leaves, leaving about one inch above the soil. Some leaves will grow again after harvesting. Wash the lettuce and use right away, or dry it and store it in your refrigerator for up to 10 days.
Care Tips
Lettuce is extremely simple to grow inside. The essential tips will be to supply good drainage and ensure the leaves don’t burn from high temps or too much light.
Keep Growing Your Year Around Apartment Garden
One of the best parts of growing edible plants indoors is that you are not limited in when you can sow, plant, or harvest. Carefully placed grow lights, a well-monitored thermostat, and a humidifier can make winter just as productive as spring and summer.
There you have it, an entire plan to grow your own edible indoor garden! Just imagine the amount of grazing you’ll be doing year-round on your own fresh, homegrown produce for years to come.