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Posts Tagged ‘year’

During the first year of growth, grape vines require training in order to develop a full capacity of new growth, so pruning back most of the new growth from that year is crucial to make room for the lush growth of the following season. Trim back grape vines each dormant season with instructions from a sustainable gardener in this free video on gardening.

It is a lot of fun to try growing fruit indoors year round. This is a great hobby if you live in an area that receives severe winter weather that would not support the growth of certain warm-weather fruit, such as citrus trees. With indoor gardening, you can provide everything you fruit plants need to thrive and produce fresh fruit year round.

Dwarf fruit trees can successfully be grown indoors. Citrus such as lemon and lime, as well as fruits such as apple, avocado, nectarine, banana, fig, pomegranate and kiwi provide a lovely fruit. A self-pollinating tree is best, because otherwise you will need another tree of the same type to pollinate your desired tree in order for it to fruit. Happily, dwarf fruit trees produce regular-sized fruit, just not as much as on a standard-sized tree.

Lemon and lime dwarf trees in an indoor situation bloom throughout the year. They will produce three to four crops a year. They appreciate the warm temperatures that reign in your home. You will need much light for your citrus to be happy indoors.Grow lights and Grow lamps such as HID lights, which are used along with electronic ballasts or digital ballasts that control the flow of electrical current, produce light that is most similar to sunlight than other types of chrome dome light bulbs, and they are a great choice for indoor citrus.

There are other tropical trees that will bear fruit indoors. A Natal plum has white fragrant flowers that bear bright red fruit. Surinam cherry has white flowers that have fruit that starts green, moves to red and ends up dark purple. The stunning Barbados cherry starts with lavender or pink flowers that form bright-red berries. Dwarf pomegranate will get to three feet tall indoors, and can actually be used for bonsai because they are evergreen. The fruit is a bit smaller than what you might find at a supermarket, but the taste is wonderful.

Because we don’t have birds or bees indoors to pollinate our fruit, we have to help our plants along by transferring pollen from flower to flower by using a small paintbrush or a cotton swab. You will want to water your fruit plants thoroughly, and then let them dry out a little between the times you water. Any good-quality potting soil will work well, and you can apply an organic blooming houseplant food to give them the nutrition they need. Increase the indoor humidity by putting a tray with pebbles and water in the bottom near the plant, or running a humidifier in the room with the plants.

You will be happy for your indoor fruit when you pick a fresh lemon in the middle of winter.

When it is cold outside, most people do not want to go out to try to garden. But even though it is cold, people still want to garden all the same. This is one reason why indoor gardening has become so popular. Plants that are fairly easy to grow successfully indoors are herbs. Not only beautiful to look at and fragrant, you can also eat them. Give year-round indoor herb gardening a try, and you will be hooked.

You can either start your herbs from seed or purchase plant starts at a nursery, or even hardware and grocery stores in season. Starting seeds is very cost effective, and you have a much wider selection of varieties from which to choose, but it does take longer to get from a seed to an edible plant. If you want to enjoy your plants sooner, then look for plant starts instead.

Some herbs can grow in a sunny window with just the natural light that is available. Herbs like mint, rosemary and oregano work well in this type of light. However, if you wish to grow plants like basil or cilantro, then you will need to make sure that you give them extra artificial light, or they will not survive in the lower-light levels.

There are a couple of different options for lighting herbs with artificial light. Fluorescent grow lights can work well for this purpose, as can metal halide HID lamps. Other specific types include solarmax grow lamps, chrome dome grow lights and hortilux grow lights. Both fluorescent and HID types of light offer the blue color spectrum needed for early plant growth, and the red and orange spectrum, which plants need to flower properly. Both types of lights require electrical ballasts or digital ballasts to control the flow of the electrical current in the bulb, and they can be included inside the light fixture or they can be a separate component used in conjunction with the light bulb and light fixture.

Herbs can be annuals, biennials or perennials. Annuals complete their entire life cycle of germination, growth and reproduction in one year, whereas perennials will live for many years and repeat their life cycle. Biennials live for two seasons, where they grow in the first and bloom in the second. To help you decide which ones to grow, think about the types of foods you enjoy cooking, and what types of herbs you typically use to flavor them as a good way to start. Some herbs are fairly easy to grow, including annual basil, dill and summer savory. Parsley is a biennial, and also easy to grow. Beginners also usually have good luck growing perennial mint, thyme, winter savory, marjoram and chives indoors. The perennial herbs can survive for several years, and they like to go outside in the summer if possible.

How do cherry tomatoes in the dead of winter sound to you, a gardener in a northern clime wishing for summer? Impossible, you say. Not if you garden indoors. Vegetables of all types can be grown year-round indoors, with the proper light, soil, fertilizer and temperature, as well as focusing on suitable plant varieties.

If you are going to grow indoor vegetables in winter, you will need to start by raising plants from seed in late summer or early fall. It’s best to buy your seeds in the spring if you wish to do this, because it is not always easy to find seeds for sale at local garden centers in the fall.

Use a light seedling mix for starting your seeds. Its loose consistency will make it easy for the plants new roots to start to develop. After the seedlings have two true leaves, you can begin to carefully transplant them into individual four-inch containers. You can use any good potting soil for this purpose, but do not use regular garden soil. It is usually very heavy, has poor drainage and can also harbor disease and insects that can kill your new starts.

Because you will be watering these plants every day or every other day to keep the roots properly moist, you are also washing nutrients out of the soil. So feed your plants with a complete organic fertilizer every couple of weeks to give them the food they need to grow and flourish.

You will be playing with temperatures when raising indoor vegetables to suit the particular plants you wish to grow. Some vegetables, such as lettuce, endive, and radishes like cooler indoor temperatures. Daytime temperatures in the 60s work well, while night temperatures should go no lower than the 40s. A basement situation might work well to provide these temperatures, or an unheated porch if it doesn’t get too cold.

Sun lovers like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and beans must have daytime temperatures in the upper 70s and nights can go down no lower than 60 in order for these plants to flower and produce fruit. You will likely need to provide bottom heat to your containers to make sure they are warm enough to do well indoors.

If you do not have the proper hydroponic lights, you will be doomed to failure when it comes to growing vegetables indoors. This is of utmost importance to your success. You need to keep your light two to four inches above your plants for them to thrive. HID lamps, in conjunction with digital ballasts or electronic ballasts can be purchased in as hydroponic grow light kits, work well for this purpose. These grow lights provide a complete spectrum of light for every stage of plant growth, and work well in indoor applications.

This year I have 196 little seedlings growing under lights … lots and lots of tomatoes, a variety of other vegetables, and some herbs. We usually get a killing frost in early June, so I have learned to start my seedlings late so they …

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196 Little Seedlings

Here’s an interesting a:1:{i:0;s:8:”TVRFeQ==”;} post from grow lights – Google Blog Search:

This year I have 196 little seedlings growing under lights … lots and lots of tomatoes, a variety of other vegetables, and some herbs. We usually get a killing frost in early June, so I have learned to start my seedlings late so they …

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196 Little Seedlings

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OK, I know this is for growing another type of medicinal herb, but I need some help. I am growing white sage and I have 4 sprouts already (a week.

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light help – Grasscity.com Forums

Here’s an interesting a:1:{i:0;s:8:”TVRFeQ==”;} post from grow lights – Google Blog Search:

OK, I know this is for growing another type of medicinal herb, but I need some help. I am growing white sage and I have 4 sprouts already (a week.

Continue here:
light help – Grasscity.com Forums

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Continue here: light help – Grasscity.com Forums

I was hoping to hide from hubby how many pepper seedlings I had (I admit, I went a little nuts this year planting them and I have yet another flat sort of hidden in the basement, if you can hide something under grow lights ) but he …

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Seven Oaks: Garden Update

This is from grow lights – Google Blog Search:

I was hoping to hide from hubby how many pepper seedlings I had (I admit, I went a little nuts this year planting them and I have yet another flat sort of hidden in the basement, if you can hide something under grow lights ) but he …

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Seven Oaks: Garden Update

Here is an interesting article from

Continue here: Seven Oaks: Garden Update

I was hoping to hide from hubby how many pepper seedlings I had (I admit, I went a little nuts this year planting them and I have yet another flat sort of hidden in the basement, if you can hide something under grow lights ) but he …

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Seven Oaks: Garden Update

This is from grow lights – Google Blog Search:

I was hoping to hide from hubby how many pepper seedlings I had (I admit, I went a little nuts this year planting them and I have yet another flat sort of hidden in the basement, if you can hide something under grow lights ) but he …

Read the rest here:
Seven Oaks: Garden Update

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Plants that grow easily in a greenhouse are all the peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and most vegetables, even in wintertime, as grow lights help overcome the short daylight hours. Now let’s get constructive here; throughout the year you …

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Greenhouses – Ways to Use Them

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Plants that grow easily in a greenhouse are all the peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and most vegetables, even in wintertime, as grow lights help overcome the short daylight hours. Now let’s get constructive here; throughout the year you …

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Greenhouses – Ways to Use Them

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I’m starting my first vegetable garden this year, and I have no idea how it’s going to turn out. I just moved some of my pea and okra plants into larger containers today. I would love to have grow lights next year, but we’ll see. …

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The GRS Garden Project: March 2009 Update ∞ Get Rich Slowly

This is from grow lights – Google Blog Search:

I’m starting my first vegetable garden this year, and I have no idea how it’s going to turn out. I just moved some of my pea and okra plants into larger containers today. I would love to have grow lights next year, but we’ll see. …

Read the rest of the post here:
The GRS Garden Project: March 2009 Update ∞ Get Rich Slowly

Here is a good article from

More here: The GRS Garden Project: March 2009 Update ∞ Get Rich Slowly