Growing good stuff

I know, it’s autumn, winter is coming and you live in an apartment right? Can’t grow anything even if you wanted to, which you may or may not depending on what it is.

Fine.

Some good super easy indoor growers for apartment dwellers are obviously houseplants, ferns, some herbs (basil, lemon verbena, rue, rosemary, lemon grass, marjoram, mint, catnip) and small chives or onions, and those crappy air plants (which actually aren’t plants, but a small sea animal dyed green and hot glued into a shell.)

Some of the moderately more space (and time) consuming indoor growers are tomato plants (please be careful of these if you have pets or small children the leaves are poisonous) which grow well indoors if given something to climb on and a sunny corner. Sweet potatoes, which require a bed of sorts, and do well in dry heated environments. Avocados (none of mine have actually produced fruit, but if you can convince the plant to grow outward and not just upward, it’s quite lovely and easy to tend.) Corn (has to be planted about 3 or 4 starts in a large planter like those used for a ficus, makes an intriguing arrangement and does produce food.) Citrus trees (from seed) which requires drying the seeds, then sprouting in a moist warm place (dark is good too) and gently transplanting into a larger pot when necessary. Pineapple tops can be rooted and make lovely large houseplants.

What qualifies as a difficult or fussy plant is highly individual. I’ve never been able to get a kiwi seed past the sprout stage, but that doesn’t mean it’s hard to grow, or that you shouldn’t try. All it means is that I have more to learn about that particular plant before trying again.

Now, tending to an indoor garden can be just as time consuming as tending to an outdoor one if you jump in both feet first, start small and slowly expand your mad apartment gardening skills to fit your lifestyle. You may be a one fern wonder, that’s perfectly fine. You may find that you only want to grow catnip and wheat grass (extremely easy to grow, careful with the seed and water, it will sprout in carpet if given a chance) to appease the local (self describe) cat gods of your domicile. Whatever your reason, it’s definitely something that can (and maybe should) be tried at least once, or twice.

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