Indoor container gardening

[maskedsonnet]

Night shift always makes me go stir-crazy. So, new project!! Bought some parthenocarpic seeds to see if I can produce some of my own food indoors year-around, instead of just growing outdoors and preserving food. I'm still going to do that ofc, but I'd love to have a small-scale indoor garden to provide fresh produce without relying on Walmart. I'm going to start off with Easy Pick Gold II zucchini, Cavili zucchini, Mini Munch cucumber, Patio Baby eggplant, and Legend tomato - all from Territorial Seed.

I've been growing my own herbs indoors for years, but before Aerogarden never really grown veggies inside. I've got peppers covered with my Aerogardens, and look forward to seeing how these do in containers! Any tips for indoor veggie growing would be much appreciated! 

[Shawn]

First I have always had a black thumb prior to AGing.  With that said I personally do not bring any dirt/mix into my home because of the possibility of bugs.  Hate them so I am of no help to you.  Sorry.

But you have some impressive plans.  Keep us updated.

[maskedsonnet]

Ooh, I had a HORRIBLE fungus gnat problem when I first started growing my herbs indoors. I put a layer of diatomaceous earth around all my potted plants now, it eliminated that problem. I put a new layer on all my plants after finding caterpillars in my aero plants, hopefully it combined with the insecticide soap kills anything that traveled with the plants I brought indoors

[Shawn]

I could never put that down.  I am a clean freak LOL...  Yeah, no indoor plants except for AG'ing here.

In my last home, I did have indoor plants and we had so many gnats and bugs I freaked.  I threw everything out and it took a week to get rid of every bug in there. Never again.  Several years ago my MIL gave us a plant in a container.  Brought it in the house and as she handed it to me it went straight on the deck.  She went on to say "Oh that is for your living room".  I told her no it is for the deck.  She got so  mad at me.  I told her to take it home with her then.  She did not.  But after they left I looked inside and in the dirt were a ton of tiny mites of some kind.  Yuck..

[Shawn]

Don't get me wrong.  I think it is wonderful for anyone that does grow inside, but dirt items I can't. 

[Sher]

maskedsonnet, a mixture of 1/3 hydrogen peroxide and 2/3 water sprayed on the soil will kill fungus gnat larvae without harming the plant.

Cold pressed neem oil mixed with dish soap and water has also cured other bug infestations for me.

Now I also play it safe and just don't bring any outdoor plants inside.

ditto what they said..DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

[maskedsonnet]

Lol yeah definitely learned my lesson this year about bringing plants indoors, those are inside plants now that I’ve got my thumb on the bug problem! Though I totally understand not wanting anything with soil inside, never know what’s going to be in it when you get it home.

[maskedsonnet]

Looks like my seeds are going to be here to same day as my new Bounty!! I'm excited to put it to work right away   Now to decide what to grow in there after I sprout and transplant these guys! A while back I pulled over and collected a seed stalk off a yucca on the side of the road, I might give those a shot 

Dec 12, 2020 5:34:50 GMT -5 maskedsonnet said:

Looks like my seeds are going to be here to same day as my new Bounty!! I'm excited to put it to work right away   Now to decide what to grow in there after I sprout and transplant these guys! A while back I pulled over and collected a seed stalk off a yucca on the side of the road, I might give those a shot 

Are you intending to grow a Yucca plant in the new Bounty?

[maskedsonnet]

Dec 12, 2020 9:38:13 GMT -5 @cornne said:

Dec 12, 2020 5:34:50 GMT -5 maskedsonnet said:

Looks like my seeds are going to be here to same day as my new Bounty!! I'm excited to put it to work right away   Now to decide what to grow in there after I sprout and transplant these guys! A while back I pulled over and collected a seed stalk off a yucca on the side of the road, I might give those a shot 

Are you intending to grow a Yucca plant in the new Bounty?

I'm at least going to try to sprout some yucca plants, and move them outside in the spring. I have a couple holes in my front yard landscaping because I finally won my battle against the pampas grass the previous owner put in (I know it's super common and loved by lots of people as low-maintenance landscaping but I HATE it, it makes a giant mess in the fall and I've always thought it too ugly to make the mess worth it). I'd love to have some yucca there instead! I've never grown it before though, so I'm going to have to do some research on what they need. Have you ever grown it?

no, I did have a yukka plant in my house before my interest in AGing. It belonged to another person in the house and it was ancient.

[maskedsonnet]

   They're here!!   

I've always loved Territorial's seed packets, they're so pretty! Decided to do 2 tomatoes and 1 of everything else. That left me with three spots open that I'm going to plant yucca seeds in.



According to what I've found on starting yucca from seed, you're supposed to soak the seeds for 24 hours before planting, so they're sitting in a bowl of water until tomorrow. For now I've got covers on their spots. Since the goal is to transplant these, I've stuck the Bounty in the room with the potted plants for now. I'll probably move it to the same room as the other AGs when I finish with this experiment 



Very excited to see how this goes!

[Shawn]

Off to a good start.  I have never purchased from Territorial.  I may just check them out in the morning.

[maskedsonnet]

They have a great selection!

[maskedsonnet]

Got the yucca pods in:




And discovered that the cavili and the cucumber are already starting to break out of their seeds! We'll be seeing some green very soon!

[Shawn]

I know I say this a lot on the forum, but it is a great feeling when you see those seedlings sprout.

[maskedsonnet]

Cavili and cucumber have both gotten big enough to remove the plastic domes. Golden zucchini and tomatoes have both sprouted, and I *think* I see the eggplant starting to come out!! It's still deep enough in the pod that you can't see it much though.

[Sher]

Progress! 

[maskedsonnet]

These are coming along quite a bit faster than I thought they would! The golden zucchini got big enough for me to take the seed hull it was wearing for a hat off without damaging it, and all of the veggies have sprouted! The eggplant is still small enough that it's just a hint of green down inside the pod, but it still brings me so much joy to see!



Yucca still hasn't shown me anything, but I read that they can take up to 4 weeks to germinate!! I'll probably be transplanting these and moving the Bounty to its permanent home before I see any life from those pods lol.