What's easy to grow indoors?

**tpals** · #1 10-17-07, 02:04 pm

With winter coming up I'd like to have some fresh greens growing inside for the boys. Suggestions please?

**Jenni_Feathers** · #2 10-17-07, 02:42 pm

I was actually wandering this too, can you grow tomatos inside, my grandma grows them for my piggys but outside and they're gonna be missing them this winter

**Fluffy_Guinea** · #3 10-17-07, 02:52 pm

Hm I would like to know this too.

**PhoenixFeather** · #4 10-17-07, 03:00 pm

Wheat grass (and probably other kinds of grass are really easy).

You can grow carrot tops as shown on another thread here, by putting the top of a carrot with just a little greens left into a saucer and keeping it nice and wet. This is really slow, but they shouldn't eat it that often anyhow.

I'm thinking even lettuce might be easy enough to grow inside. It's quite an easy crop to grow, though I have never tried it inside.

I think tomatoes would be pretty challenging to grow inside, but it might be possible if you have a nice sunny and warm location in your house.

**tpals** · #5 10-17-07, 03:29 pm

It might be tricky to polinate the tomato flowers indoors.

**John4216** · #6 10-17-07, 03:55 pm

Wheat grass is very easy to grow indoors during the winter and I know my pigs love it. You can also grow tomatoes pretty easy indoors. Many veggies can be grown indoors but space is often an issue so for me Wheat Grass is what I do as well as tomatoes in a large tub. In fact here are some links about them:

Indoor Tomatoes (3 Plants) - V13880

Real Food Winter Tomatoes

And here is a link to information about growing indoor veggies of different types that do not take up to much space (lots of goodies our piggies eat):

Vegetable Gardening in Containers

Hope this helps.

**ctinaw** · #7 10-17-07, 11:24 pm

I am thinking about getting one of these!! If they actually work - that would be pretty neat. I love using fresh herbs in my cooking and now that I have pigs - all the more reason. I am just not sure where I'd put it - the thing looks pretty big! But it's one of those gadgets that might be worth a try.

Home Of The AeroGarden From AeroGrow International ::: 1-800-GROW-NOW

Looks like you can grow about anything in it! The strawberries - I wouldn't recommend though, just from what I know about strawberry growth. But wow - the tomatoes and all of the lettuce! (and basil for me hehe) Maybe it should just go right next to the piggie cage - or would that be too much torture for them? heh.

**pigsforlife** · #8 10-17-07, 11:51 pm

I have a pot of herbs; parsley, coriander, thyme and basil and a separate pot of wheat grass. The thyme, basil and parsley I use more for cooking although they are included in the girls diet (not daily), on the otherhand, I dont use coriander much for cooking however it is part of their (guinea pigs) daily diet.

I used a pot, filled with a layer of gravel and a good quality soil over the top for the herbs. I dug little holes using my fingers, placed the herbs into the holes and added some more soil, I finished off by thoroughly watering everything down.

Wheat grass is probably the easiest and the most quickest to grow. I got a packet of seeds for free from the exotic vet I see. Again, I use a pot, with a layer of gravel and a good quality soil over the top. I evenly spread the seeds across the soil, added a thin layer of soil (so that it covers the seeds) and watered everything down.

Both pots are placed so that they get natural light.

**tpals** · #9 10-18-07, 10:38 am

Getting natural light is going to be difficult for me. I'm in a northern state and my house is surrounded by trees.

Ctinaw, I've looked at that aerogarden and added it to my wish list on Amazon but it seems pretty expensive right now and from the feedback they might have a design problem with the pump that needs to be resolved. I'm still really tempted!

**John4216** · #10 10-18-07, 11:04 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by tpals

Getting natural light is going to be difficult for me. I'm in a northern state and my house is surrounded by trees.

If you can't get the natural light than you can by a natural light lightbulb. They sell them to fit anything from a normal bulb to the tubes.

**Emmett** · #11 10-18-07, 01:05 pm

The AeroGarden in on sale for the next 3 hours in the Amazon Gold Box for $99.95.

**crazychic** · #12 10-22-07, 04:14 pm

For those of you who grow some of your pigs fruits or veggies, have you noticed it saving you some money?

**jabberwock** · #13 10-22-07, 04:38 pm

We definitely save money at some times of year, when we are self sufficient in lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber, with plenty of chard available too. Any my pigs eat about half a carrier bag full of grass nearly every day (we keep the borders untrimmed and grass quickly colonises the bits we're slow to cultivate). The pigs don't get much apple, but I won't be buying apples for any of us for at least 3 months. Most of that is outside or in our polytunnel though. I'd struggle to grow enough in the house.

I think that tomatoes indoors over winter might be a challenge. I suspect that the light patterns would be wrong even if you used a sunlight bulb and you might struggle to get enough heat/light to ripen them. Tomato plants take up quite a lot of space as well. Herbs, wheatgrass and salad seedlings would be easier.

**pigsforlife** · #14 10-22-07, 04:59 pm

I have defiantely been saving money. I no longer have to buy the herbs that I now grow, another bonus is that the pigs and myself are getting fresh vegetables.

I also grow bok choy, up the back, in a pot. They were growing fantastically until Tasha (one of my dogs) got bored and decided to pull them all up!

Thank you John4216, for this useful post, say these 5 members:
Fluffy_Guinea (10-18-07), Guinea_Piggin (10-18-07), Jenni_Feathers (10-17-07), PhoenixFeather (10-19-07), tpals (10-17-07)

Thank you pigsforlife for this useful post, says:
lizo72 (10-18-07)

Thank you Emmett for this useful post, says:
tpals (10-18-07)

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