9 Easy Vegetables To Grow Indoors While In Quarantine

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Many of the world is stuck indoors while they ride out the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping across the globe. There is no better time to start thinking about how you can grow your own food, indoors. With supermarkets low on produce and the threat of catching the coronavirus while out in public, this really is a great time to learn which vegetables you can grow, quickly and easily.

The following vegetables will grow fairly quick and they are super easy to get going!

The following is from a great site called SheKnows.com. They have great tips on how to grow these vegetables right inside your home! 

1. Lettuce greens

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Lettuce is surprisingly easy to grow and does not take up much space, making it an excellent choice for a sunny window. Look for lettuce mixes marketed as cutting lettuces or leaf lettuce varieties. With these, you can harvest the leaves and the plant will grow back, giving you more lettuce for half the work.

Start your seeds in a pot or a plastic bag with drainage holes. Fill with moist potting soil and sprinkle five to 15 seeds on the surface. Cover them with 1/8 inch of soil and mist them with a spray bottle until the surface is damp but not soaked. Place them in a sunny window or under a grow light and keep nice and moist. Thin the seedlings once they germinate, leaving the strongest to grow into delicious, fresh lettuce.

2. Carrots

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You won’t get monstrous carrots from an indoor garden, but with a deep enough pot you can enjoy fresh carrots year-round. Shorter carrot varieties need a pot at least eight inches deep and longer varieties require 12 inches to reach their full size. Choose a moistened organic potting soil mix and fill your container up to an inch from the top. Plant your seeds 1/4 inch deep.

Keep your carrots in a sunny windowsill and keep them moist but not wet. Once they germinate, thin them so that each carrot is at least an inch apart from its neighbor. Plant a new batch of carrots every two weeks to keep them coming all year long.

3. Arugula

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Spicy and delicious, arugula germinates quickly and grows even faster. Each plant gives you multiple harvests if you cut the larger leaves and leave the small ones at the center. Arugula prefers cooler temperatures, which makes it a perfect vegetable to grow indoors.

4. Kale

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Once a garnish and now a superfood, kale is a great vegetable to grow indoors. Like arugula, you can harvest the bigger leaves and leave the small ones for a later harvest. Plant a few seeds in a medium-size pot and cover with 1/2 inch of soil. Keep the soil moist and thin to one plant per pot, as kale can get pretty large.

5. Scallions

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Scallions, also called green onions, give you that onion taste without the space requirements. You can start them from seed or you can pick up some scallions at the grocery store or farmers market. If they still have roots attached, stick them in the soil, burying them up to the top of the white bulb, and watch them grow. Harvest the tops periodically.

6. Microgreens

Sometimes waiting for salad greens to grow is tedious. Microgreens are one of the best vegetables to grow indoors. They grow quickly, they require very little space, and they are absolutely delicious. To grow microgreens, simply sprinkle a single crop of mesclun or microgreen seed mixes in a shallow, well-drained container. Cover the seeds with a fine covering of soil, keep moist, and harvest once the first “true leaves” of the plant pop up.

7. Tomatoes

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I was surprised at how long my tomatoes lasted indoors the first time I moved a potted plant inside. Had I added fertilizer, I suspect it would have lasted even longer. Tomatoes do well in containers, but they do like sunlight so make sure your tomato gets the best seat at the window.

Check out this easy and genius way to grow tomatoes!

8. Ginger

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Ginger is an attractive plant that looks a little like bamboo. The best way to start ginger is to pick some up at a natural food store, as these tend to use fewer chemicals. Even then, you’ll have to soak it in water for a few hours to remove any growth inhibitor chemicals on the plant.

Place your root in a wide, shallow container and barely cover it with soil. Keep it moist, sit back, and watch it grow.

9. Lemons

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Lemons are technically not a vegetable, but they go well with so many dishes that it seemed criminal to omit them from this list. Dwarf lemon trees make beautiful houseplants. They also provide full size, juicy lemons that pair nicely with meat and vegetable dishes, not to mention a hot cup of tea in the winter.

While you can start lemons from seed, most potted citrus enthusiasts buy a dwarf citrus tree from a nursery. It takes a long time to grow a productive tree from seed, and professional nurseries use a grafting process that keeps potted lemons small enough to grow inside.