Growing Food Indoors

Overview

Growing your own food is a great way to eat healthfully and to cut down on the cost of your grocery bills. You don't need a large garden space or even a large amount of indoor space to grow your own food. There are a few foods that grow easily indoors or produce enough of a high yield that if they do require more space it is well worth the effort.

Sprouting Seeds

Step 1

Add about 1 inch of the sprouting seeds to your mason jar. Cover the seeds with 2 to 3 times more water. Put the lid on the jar and shake it gently.

Step 2

Uncover your mason jar and let it soak in a sunny location for the next 24 hours. Drain the water from the jar and set it back in a sunny location.

Step 3

Cover and soak your seeds in water each day. Shake the jar immediately, and then drain away the water. Set your jar in a sunny location each day. Within a few days your sprouts will be ready and you can repeat the process.

Lettuce

Step 1

Find a plastic food container with a lid or a clamshell from food you've ordered to go. Make sure the container is clean and dry. Use a knife to poke several drainage holes in the bottom of your container.

Step 2

Fill your containers with 2 inches of potting soil. Evenly space 25 lettuce seeds in each container.

Step 3

Sprinkle just enough soil over the seeds to cover them, and water the soil generously. Continue to water your containers each day to moisten the soil.

Step 4

Set your containers in a warm spot where your plants will get 12 hours of sun a day. During shorter days use a grow light to get the proper amount of light on your plants.

Step 5

Clip leaves from your lettuce plants after 3 to 4 weeks to use in salads. Leave the crown intact when clipping the leaves to promote further leaf growth.

Tomatoes

Step 1

Fill a 5-gallon pot or container with a mixture of equal parts peat moss and compost and 1/4 part perlite soil.

Step 2

Press 2 tomato seeds 1/2 inch deep into the container so that they are evenly spaced apart in the pot. Immediately mulch and water your tomatoes so that the soil is moist.

Step 3

Keep a grow light on your tomatoes 12 hours a day.

Step 4

Reduce watering to two times a week when the seedlings appear. Fertilize your tomatoes with a general-purpose fertilizer once a week.

Step 5

Shake the stems near any flowers that appear to encourage your plant to pollinate and produce tomatoes.