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Possible Duplicate:
How do I grow a usable vegetable garden indoors?

Is it possible to grow any vegetables, or even fruit, indoors?

I've had a bit of success growing herbs and kalamondin indoors before now, but I was wondering if there's any small vegetables that can be grown indoors?

It's in a flat, no window ledges, but a fair few hours of sunlight

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Danger Fourpence
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    Well, there is "indoors" and a greenhouse. Tomatoes, lettuce, peppers are all grown in greenhouses but your chances of getting more than a small harvest with less than 10 hours direct sun are slim. – kevinskio Mar 19 '12 at 19:33
  • Ok, just to clarify, indoors does not mean greenhouse in this instance. Thanks for the advice – Danger Fourpence Mar 20 '12 at 09:49

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We have quite a few people here who have grown peppers and small tomatoes indoors and in pots. I think peppers (especially jalapenos) have a certain novelty factor that attracts people.

The big problem (as indicated by @kevinsky) is the sunlight for peppers and tomatoes. You are going to need a sunny window or conservatory. If you don't have anywhere like that or a balcony, then you could buy a grow lamp or two?

Smaller root vegetables might also be worth trying - e.g. beetroot, onions, and carrots (although carrots might need deep pots). As you have complete control on the soil texture, these should grow well.

winwaed
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Just about anything can be grown indoors without natural sunlight. It depends on how serious you are. There are a few different options if you were willing to setup a few lighting fixtures. The cheapest setup (for peppers and lettuce for example) would involve buying a simple fixture and putting a full-spectrum CFL bulb in it. A full spectrum bulb (around 5000K, and roughly 1000 lumens is a good start) closely resembles the sun in terms of specific wavelengths that plants require to photosynthesize.

I myself am currently experimenting with growing basil, green peppers, chives, and spinach indoors in a hydroponic setup with no direct sunlight. I'm at about week 5 and so far everything is doing great; the little bit of basil I have sampled so far tastes great! If you preferred to use a soil setup instead of a soil-less one I imagine you would have similar results.

Just about every fruit has been grow indoors nowadays with the right lighting. Take a look at this impressive little setup growing indoor strawberries!

Note: Growing basil and peppers indoors is a lot different than growing strawberries/other plants solely indoors and require a lot more than just a simple bulb and a spot light fixture. For more difficult plants a more complex setup and a lot of research is required.

WienerDog
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