5 Fool-Proof Veggies You Can Grow Indoors

Thanks to Pinterest, I’ve become obsessed with indoor gardening. There's only one problem: I was born without a green thumb (tragic, I know). If you’re like me — or you’re just in the mood to harvest your own veggies this spring — I have good news: indoor gardening really isn't that hard. In fact, in some cases, it's as easy as filling up a glass of water. Inspired by a piece in the blog Healthy Body Now, we’ve rounded up a few easy-to-grow veggies you can start cultivating today from the comfort of your apartment. Let’s do this.

Carrots

Trust me when I say growing carrots indoors is the opposite of rocket science. All you need are carrot tops, a well-lit room, and a dish with a little water in it. That’s it. Seriously. Simply put the carrot tops in the water, and boom! You’re growing carrots! Reader’s Digest also mentions they’re easy to grow in troughs, pans, pots, and boxes (if dishes aren’t your thing).

Celery

Celery is another easy veggie to grow on a window sill or in your kitchen. Healthy Body Now suggests slicing off the base of a celery plant and placing it in bowel of water near sunlight. Once leaves begin to grow, you can transfer it to a pot or planter. Who said gardening was hard?!

Peppers

If you like to keep your apartment warm, have a window or two, and have a little extra space near one (I know, I’m asking so much), then you should give peppers a go. The Care2 online community recommends growing cherry or banana peppers in a three to five gallon container in a sunny area of your apartment. They also include a little disclaimer (for people like me) that if you’re new to apartment gardening, you should start with sprouts and not seeds.

Green Onions

Not only are green onions delicious in pretty much every savory dish, but they’re also fairly low maintenance when it comes to indoor gardening. All you need are green onions, a jar, and some water. Care2 suggests filling up a jar, placing your green onions in it, and refilling whenever necessary. If you really want to go the extra mile, you can move them to a planter — or just continue to treat them like a bouquet of roses on your desk.

Basil

There are two ways to grow basil (don’t worry, both are easy). The first: you can purchase a basil plant, keep it near a window where it will get at least four hours of direct sunlight daily, and water it when it wilts — instructions courtesy of Care2. Or, you guessed it, do as Healthy Body Now does and grab a glass of water, add a few clippings to it, and replant when the roots are about two inches long.

See? I told you this would be easy. In the mood to go the extra mile? I thought so.

Enter: the hydroponic planter. You may have seen them on an episode of Weeds back in the day, but as it turns out, they're also great for growing soon-to-be-delicious-salad-ingredients. I highly recommend Modern Sprout’s version. Usually, hydroplonic planters look like a not-so-attractive prop from the set of Breaking Bad, but Modern Sprout's designs are modern, attractive, and very Pinterest-worthy. They’re also pretty user-friendly — for not-green-thumbs like me.

To buy your own hydroponic planter, or just learn more about them, check out Modern Sprout's Kickstarter.

Happy indoor gardening!

Image: Modern Sprout