Indoor gardening under lights isn’t difficult, but it also isn’t nothing. I have placed this chapter after those on water and earthworms because these are the two things most likely to dissuade you from going forward with this. Without a gardener to garden it, none of this will work. I want you to fully understand the commitment you are making before you get started.
Are You Already a Gardener?
Many people enjoy gardening. If you are already a gardener and have successfully kept a garden, you are motivated enough. Indoor gardening is generally easier than outdoor gardening and you will probably do less work than before and get more food for your efforts, at least for the amount of space that you use. Our indoor garden is a result of downsizing into a condominium. Dedicating a room to the garden was much more practical for us than a house with a yard. Also, we live in the mountains and the outdoor season is short, while the indoor growing season is constant. This section is meant for new gardeners and was not written with you, my gardener friends, in mind. You may be rolling your eyes at the obviousness of some of these statements. You might read through the rest of this chapter anyway, but please forgive me for not making more assumptions about you. I am trying to help newbies get good results without overwhelming them.
How much time does it actually take?
I spend an hour a day maintaining the garden, each morning, but I expect that I take longer than most people would. I do more tracking because I am interested in determining the relative merits of various varieties when grown under the conditions in our garden room and documenting those for you. So, part of that time for me is actually spent maintaining a spreadsheet. While weeding is never an issue, watering still must be done. Planting and harvesting must be performed and cleaned. If you aren’t willing to spend about a half-hour a day maintaining the garden then this approach is not for you.
The room must be kept clean. If you do soil gardening in the room, small amounts of dirt will get on the floor, possibly drops of dirty reused water in some cases, and little plant parts, like dried blossoms, etc. It all adds up to more than you might expect. You will be spending time cleaning that room. I sweep mine daily and have a rag I use for drips on the floor.
It is possible for your garden room to suffer an insect invasion. It will be an attractive diner full of food, and it will lack the usual predators. Ants, in particular, can move in overnight and can arrive in large numbers very quickly if they are outside, or in an adjacent unit. They will get underneath things and be difficult to deal with. I discuss this some more in the Insects article.
The garden room will have lights on within it for something like 16 hours per day, in most cases. If you follow my procedures, the walls are lined with shiny Mylar in order to retain more light. This may or may not be out of sight where you intend to put it. Ours is partially screened on one side and some of its light illuminates the main room, in our one-bedroom condominium. I’ll describe all this in more detail in the chapter on Preparing the Room.
In our one-bedroom condo, we use the space that was meant to be the dining area. I’ll describe why in the article about room selection, but my point here is for you to think about the fact that it might well be visible, and you might not want the light shining out of there for so long each day, or the science fiction look of LED lights in a room with shiny silvery walls.
Unless you live alone you will need to get the approval of the others in your home. This is especially true if it is in a space like ours, which must be passed through to get to our kitchen. If, as I said before you keep it clean, and have easily movable containers, it will look much better once your food is growing in there. Plants are attractive in general and, with a little training and practice, the plants in your growing room will be healthy and pretty. They’ll also look like they are growing in a spaceship. You don’t really have to do that, but you will make much more efficient use of your lights if you do.
If after reading all that, you still want to go ahead with this, then you probably have the motivation needed to maintain a garden in your spare room. Now hopefully it is apparent why this book is written in the order that it is, instead of in the order you will actually do things. It’s a pretty big deal and I didn’t want to lead you through the beginning and have you make purchases without your understanding of what is involved.
Cost
You may or may not save money using this approach. If you do save money, it will come after you spend on setting up your garden room. That is, it will depend on your persistence. It will also depend on how much you have to spend for the equipment and the food prices in your local area. We don’t eat exactly the same things we would if all our food came from the grocery store. Our basil and chives, for example, are practically free, after the cost of the garden, and we eat more of them than we would if we bought them. I grow cut and come again cutting celery and never buy celery now, but if I did, it would be a different kind. My point here is that cost comparisons are difficult, but if your primary motivation is to save money, take a good hard look at the costs, and your willingness to garden.
Stuck at Home
You will be unable to travel unless you have someone to maintain your plants. It is important to consider this. Unlike your houseplants, many of your vegetables will not be okay if they go a week without water. Undertaking gardening will impact your freedom. There are some non-soil-based methods that could work for you in those cases, but in these cases, there is more worry about humidity.
Children
If you have very small children, you will have to watch them in the garden room until they are old enough for you to explain it to them. You won’t want them running around unsupervised. There are lights, wires, potentially fragile pots, and plants that could be knocked over. That being said, none of this is very hard for children to understand, and indoor vegetable gardening is a very reasonable thing for a parent to do. Planting seeds, and taking care of them while they grow, is not difficult for young children of speaking age to understand. You should probably put a bungee cord on the gate handle, around the back of the unit, so a young child does not pull it out and make a mess.
When my small children or grandchildren helped me, I found their tiny fingers handy with tiny seeds. I also found them to be careful and cautious when handling pots, and let them fill small ones. I would advise that you think about how messy a harvest could be before you send them for carrots or something.
Older children can do it all unless they can’t reach it. They might well get bored after a while, so don’t be planning for them to take over. On the other hand, having a child, say, ten or older taking some of those half-hour shifts would be very reasonable. This is not long or difficult work. Height could be an issue and they may well require a step ladder.
Pets
Pets are another potential issue. You might have a nice house cat that does no damage at all or one that eats your plants and knocks things over. A large dog might be kind of clumsy around a bunch of pots. Any sized dog might eat some of your plants. A pet could be a good reason for your plant room to have a door. Obviously, I can’t make predictions about yours, I just want you to think about it.