Angels in My Garden   Week 39   September 29, 2010

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

One option for keeping some fresh vegetables in our diet during the coming cold weather months, is to invite our "teacher" in. We've had a small indoor veggie garden for the past several years and been quite pleased with the results. If you want to try indoor gardening this winter, now is the time to get started.

What You Will Need for Your Indoor Garden:

The right choice of seeds
An appropriate site
A planter box – preferably a raised box|
A source of light – either sunlight from a southern facing window or artificial light
A good soil medium

The Right Choice of Seeds
Cool weather plants such as lettuce, spinach and chard, and root vegetables such as beets, radishes and carrots are the best bet for indoor gardens as they do not need the extreme warmth of the summer sun. You should choose plants that will grow to approximately the same height, especially if you are going to use a light fixture.

An Appropriate Site
You will need an area that does not get too cold (below 40^o F). A garage, for example may not be the best choice if you live in an area with very cold winters.
Choose a space where dripping or spilled water will not harm the floor or carpeting. Of course, you can always protect the floor with a tarp or heavy plastic.

The Planter Box
You will probably want a raised box so you will not have to crawl around on the floor. The planter box can be made out of wood or you can purchase some plastic planter boxes. You can set the boxe(s) on a small table or use a piece of heavy plywood or even an old door, supported by a couple of sawhorses

Source of Light
Even if you have a room with a good size southern-facing window, you will probably need another source of light, especially if you live in an area that does not have a lot of sunny days during the winter months. The best lighting for indoor gardens is a combination of cool white and warm white fluorescent tubes. There are also now fluorescent “sunlight” tubes that mimic the light of the sun. These can be purchased at Home Depot.

The light source should not be more than six to eight inches from the plant tops. The height should be adjustable and this can be accomplished by suspending the light fixtures from chains that can be shortened as the plants grow. If you don’t have anything to hang the lighting fixtures from you may want to construct a frame out of rebar to go over the table and hang the lights from there.

A Good Soil Medium
A lightweight soil is required for indoor gardening, such as organic potting soil, mixed with a little bit of organic compost. Regular gardening soil is too heavy and the necessary daily watering will cause it to compact. It may also carry plant pests and diseases that will be difficult to control indoors.
The best fertilizer for your indoor vegetable garden is, of course, organic compost. You can mix the compost with your soil and/or make a compost tea for watering your plants by mixing a trowel full of compost with three or four gallons of water, letting is sit for a few days, straining out the solid stuff and stirring it before each watering.

Attached are a couple of photos of last year's indoor garden with spinach in the back (by the window) and beet greens in the front. Remember, with greens such as these, you can keep them coming and coming by only harvesting the outer leaves.

Reflection: How we eat the food we grow is just as important for our health as how we grow it.  Here's some good advice on how to make the most of the gifts from the garden.]

"For the power of God's angels enters into you with the living food which the Lord gives you from his royal table. And when you eat, have above you the angel of air, and below you the angel of water. Breathe long and deeply at all your meals, that the angel of air may bless your repasts. And chew well your food with your teeth, that it become water, and that the angel of water turn it into blood in your body. And eat slowly, as if it were a prayer you make to the Lord. For I tell you truly, the power of God enters into you, if you eat after this manner at His table.”
                              Essene Gospel of Peace Book One, page 43

Until next week,

                 Peace be with you,

                                    Rose Mirabai Lord

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