How to Grow Great Vegetables Indoors

Growing your plants indoors may seem old-fashioned. After all, they are being sold on every street corner and grocery store. But growing your own seedlings gives you several advantages.

1) Buying your seeds at your local discount or grocery stores is a haphazard proposition at best. All of those tiny seeds may not sprout into the plants that you desire. In fact, you may not get any seedlings at all!

2) Even though you were told that the last freeze has come and gone, Mother Nature does have a way of getting one more cold front in before the spring growing season has really gotten started. This could mean a quick end to your own growing season.

3) Your bedding plants will be a lot healthier. Many of the seedlings that you might purchase at a store are weak due to their trip to their destination and some may not have been watered for long periods of time.

4) Then there is the hybrid versus non-hybrid question. Going back to the non-hybrid type, such as tomatoes, have grown in popularity. Simply put, they taste better. Stores sell hybrids mainly because they are easier to mass-produce. They have been developed to grow larger but they also have little or no taste when they reach their full-grown status.

This may sound complicated, but it really is not. There is no need to rush out and spend a vast amount of money by building your own greenhouse.

Here is what you need to begin growing seeds into tasty vegetables:

Seeds: Decide what you want to grow and do a little research. Make certain that particular vegetable can be grown in your region. There are countless plants that can only be grown in certain areas of the country. Also, there are numerous mail-order houses that sell a wide variety of seeds. But be certain to order in time for planting season!

Containers: Keep it simple and don't go out to buy hundreds of dollars in decorative pots! Seedlings can be grown in anything from planting trays called flats to yogurt cups or cardboard milk cartons. Just keep in mind that whatever you use should be at least 3" deep and you should be able to remove the plants easily for outdoor planting later on.