Growing food inside an apartment or dorm, no matter how small, is completely doable.
If you’ve never attempted indoor gardening, herbs are the perfect novice-friendly way to start. Plus, a little thyme can turn that drab dinner you threw together between classes into a gourmet dining experience.
Is the idea of having plants growing under the guidance of your not-so-green thumb a bit unnerving? Take advice from an expert:
“Don’t be afraid of the whole thing,” said Dave Snyder, the farm director at Uncommon Ground. “What’s the worst that can happen? Your plant dies and you are a little disappointed. You can always do better next year.”
Snyder and Natalie Pfister, the previous farm manager at Uncommon Ground, discussed urban gardening at the Rogers Park Gardening Group hosted by Uncommon Ground on Feb. 23. They offered several tips on how to start an indoor garden:
- Tackle the basic herbs like basil, cilantro, oregano or parsley. If you’re valiant enough to take on vegetable growing, lettuce and other greens are good plants that don’t take up too much space.
- Snyder recommends buying a baby plant from a gardening store instead of starting a garden from a seed. The plant will be nearly fully- grown and you can start picking from it within weeks.
- Be sure you have a container that has a good draining system. If you want to go simple, an old tin coffee can is perfect for student-friendly gardening. Just poke some holes in the bottom or fill the base with gravel and larger rocks for water drainage. Then top it off with potting soil.
- Lack of sunlight is the biggest problem with indoor gardens, according to Pfister, who spoke at the event Wednesday. She noted that vegetables require six to eight hours of sunlight a day. So if you leave your plant on a windowsill, it might not be getting enough light.
- Put vegetable plants on a south-facing window or buy a cheap growing light, Pfister recommends. Herbs, however, will be fine with the more shady conditions.
- Check your plant daily to see if it needs to be watered. You don’t want to over-saturate or dry out the plant. If your soil is damp to the touch, you have one happy hydrated plant.
- You don’t have to worry about fertilizing if you buy a baby plant, but you still need to water it correctly. “If you use potting soil, it should have enough nutrients for the plant to live through the whole season,” Snyder says.
- Don’t let your fear of creepy crawlers keep you from gardening. There are insect pesticides available that will shoo them away. The most common creature, the aphid, can be stopped dead in its tracks with common household supplies.
“We take a little hand soap with detergent in it and we mix it with some water then spread it on the bottom of the leaves where the aphids live,” Synder says.
- Every crop is essentially different. So when you decide what you want to grow, research the crop to find out what it needs specifically.
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