Growing Vegetables Indoors

Do you want to grow vegetables? But you have neither balcony nor garden? No problem! There are also some vegetables that you can grow indoors. I love having plants that I can harvest and eat. Sometimes, I am not patient to wait until they are ripe. In this article, you will find out which vegetables are good to plant indoors. I will also give you some tips about vegetable planting in general.

Lemon Basil 

my lemon basils

This year, I grew lemon basil plants from seeds for the first time in Germany. I planted the seeds at the beginning of spring. Fortunately, they have been growing well so far. Although some plants grow faster than others. I think it's because I put them at different windows. It took around one week until the seeds sprouted.

Lemon basil needs direct sunlight. The south window is

best for it. My south window is in my sleeping room. No wonder that there are many lemon basil and chili plants. For watering, I just learned if the topmost of the lemon basil's soil is already dry, you should water them. We can see the sign that they need water through their wilted leaves. If you water them, the leaves will be back to normal.

After a few weeks, you should cut some leaves or stems

above the big leaves: the shoots can be seen

because it stimulates the growth of new shoots at the stems, and the plants will be bushy. Great! I love eating lemon basil with Indonesian homemade sambal. In Indonesia, we call the plant kemangi. 

So, lemon basil can grow up to 100 cm (it depends on how we keep it) and can develop flowers. However, it's better to eat them before they are flowering, because the plants cannot produce big tasty leaves anymore once they have flowered. 

I plant my lemon basil in two different ways. Some got their own pots. But once I ran out of pots, I started planting three plants per pot. 

You can fertilize your lemon basil once a week from spring until the end of summer. I use the same method as with most other plants due to my location in Germany. I think if we keep them indoors, they might survive the winter. I will report to you, if they do.

Remember two years ago, when I was living in Yogyakarta during my study abroad. I just ate kemangi all the time because there are not many vegetables being served with the streetfood. But I love it! I am so happy that I can create a homey feeling in Germany with many tropical plants in my apartment. 

Lemongrass

lemongrass

Lemongrass is one of my favorite spices. We can use it for cooking purposes (especially in Indonesian cuisine) or make a cup of tea with it. It's not difficult to grow it indoors. First, we have to put fresh lemongrass in water. Usually, it will root after one week, after which you can put it in substrate. So, that's it. Last year, I also planted lemongrass, and I harvested it in summer. I planted some new lemongrass this year. The leaves are already coming out, as you can see in the picture. 

For watering, you can wait until the substrate is already dry, and please give them fertilizer once a week from spring until summer.
Our great aunt had bushy lemongrass. My Mom sometimes sent me to pick some lemongrass there when she needed it for cooking. 

Ginger

1 month old ginger from last year

Ginger is great. I love drinking ginger tea with honey. I often use it for cooking as well. If you have some fresh ginger, take one of the rhizomes, and put it on a windowsill. After two weeks, the color of the rhizome starts to change to green. It's a sign that you can plant it. Then you can put it in substrate and after that spray, or water it. Usually, after two weeks, the new shoots will come. Ginger grows very fast. You could plant it at the beginning of the year and in the late summer or autumn, you can harvest it already. For watering and fertilizing, you can treat it like lemongrass. It's better, if you plant it in a wide pot because ginger gives many new shoots (baby plants). 

Red Hot Chili Pepper 

my first red hot chili

Yeah! We come to the hot one. I bought some red hot chili peppers in the

red hot chili peppers united

Asian Supermarket. It must be very spicy then. It's a good idea to grow red hot chili peppers indoors, especially for those who love spicy foods. We don't need to buy any seeds. We can use the seeds of the fresh red hot chilis peppers we have at home. First, we are going to pick the seeds out, then prepare a plant pot filled with coconut coir or another substrate. After that, we can put the seeds on the substrate, and please give some water after. 

Watering and fertilizing are the same as with the lemongrass and ginger. The first time I planted red hot chili peppers was at the end of March of this year, as you can see in the picture. I planted the other little chilis around the end of April. Ideally, you plant every single one of it in one pot. I still have to separate them. 

When I was in Indonesia, I ate homemade Indonesian sambal every single day, made by my Mom, and I loved it. 

Bell Pepper and Sweet Palermo 

front: sweet palermo, back: bell pepper

The Bell pepper and sweet Palermo plants look very similar to the hot chili plants. No wonder that it confused me. No problem! After a while, you will learn to distinguish the plants from one another. They also grow very fast. If you plant the seeds in December or January at the end of summer, you can harvest them. I planted them in December last year. You can see in the picture how much they grew. The watering and the fertilizing rules are the same as for lemongrass, ginger, and red hot chili peppers. However, you have to water more often when the plant is bearing fruits. The same is true for the red hot chili peppers. 

There are some other vegetables that you can grow indoors. But in this article, I concentrated on the ones I have the most experience with. I hope you enjoyed it and it inspires you to plant some vegetables indoors.

Stay healthy! Xoxo, Rita

PS. throwback some pictures of bell pepper and Sweet Palermo, when the fruits were little.

sweet palermo at the end of April

bell pepper at the end of April

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Here is a list of the items that I have linked to in this article:
DOKOT plant basket (45 x 36cm)
humidifier
pests free (Celaflor Schädlingsfrei Careo Combi-Stäbchen 20 Stk)
5 nature plant pots (terracota)
COMPO fluid fertilizer for green plants 1 Liter
plant potting matt
plant potting mat
15 different of plant tools
3 different plant tools
plant spray bottle
neem oil
humidifier
perlite
10 x 650g - 90 l coconut coir (Kokosfaser/Kokoserde)
expanded clay
plant granulate
Bio soil ( Pflanzenerde) 40 Liter
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