It’s amazing how many organic foods you can grow in your basement. What? True story. Every January the mister starts his organic garden in our basement. It is easy to do and we get to enjoy delicious organic vegetables all winter and spring. To start your own garden in the basement, try easy growing organic vegetables such as bush beans, cabbage, lettuce, spinach and small cucumbers. Read on to get started in a few short steps.
- tables
- hanging shop lights
- T-8 fluorescent light bulbs
- chain
- pots
- organic seeds
- organic potting soil
- organic fertilizer
- watering can
- light timer
Start by planting organic seeds in organic potting soil and biodegradable peat pots. Then, place the peat pots in small reusable greenhouses in south facing windowsills throughout your home.
Once the seeds sprout and are an inch tall, transplant them into 4-6″ pots and place them on a table in your basement.
Step 3: Hang the Lights
Hang directly above the tables fluorescent T-8 light bulbs, suspended from the ceiling on a shop light.(The mister suspends the shop lights with an adjustable chain, which is adjusted to always be 2″ above the plants.) Then, plug the lights into a timer, we use a holiday light timer. The plants get 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness to rest each day.
Waters the plants once a week – once the plants are 4″ tall, start to fertilize them with organic fertilizer. (See the instructions that come with the organic fertilizer that you purchase.)
At six weeks transplant the beans and cucumbers into 8-12″ pots. All of the other plants can stay in the 4-6″ pots.
At 2.5 months, start to water the plants twice a week.
After 3 months you will have amazing vegetables that you can harvest and enjoy all winter and spring long.
that’s such a cool idea. wish i had thought of this earlier.
Hi Becca Greene, Thanks. Well, keep it in mind for next winter. We do it every year and just harvested the lettuce. xo
Sweet. A pests that come for your lettuce and if so what do you do about it? If there are any you are dealing with unless there was a repellent you use to keep them away when you first started?
there are places in our basement that leaks every time it rains, and I am considering making a garden in said places. The negative effects of water in the basement will Hopefully reduce if not stop altogether, and be put to some use.
How do the beans and the cukes get fertilized?
Hi WoodyReedy,
Great question! My husband used tweezers to hand fertilize the plants.