Episode 680-Moving the gardening indoors

I can cope with working in the cold. Working in the rain is another matter. With plenty of showers this week, I’ve found myself moving more of my gardening under cover — and growing food indoors has become the thread running through this episode.

There are young plants filling the shed, cold frames back in position in front of the greenhouse and clear benches at the allotment where the tomato plants used to be. Inside the house, the kitchen windowsill and growing shelves are part of the picture too.

It might be the middle of October, but I’m not putting the garden away. I’m making room for what comes next.

Making room in the kitchen garden

My daily visits to the shed have included sowing peas, broad beans and more onions, as well as pricking out seedlings. I’ll admit that pricking out is a job I find tedious. Seeing those little plants getting bigger afterwards is the part I enjoy.

Space is becoming the problem, which is where the cold frames come in. Having cleaned them a few weeks ago, this weekend I lifted them out of the way, removed some of the slabs beneath them and laid sand followed by gravel.

The frames are now back in front of the greenhouse, with a few young plants inside. I prefer the look of the gravel, and I’m hoping it will help water drain through rather than collect on the surface. I’ll be keeping an eye on that, along with checking the plants’ watering needs now they’re under cover.

Inside the home greenhouse, the tomatoes and cucumbers have come out, while the chillies and aubergines are still going strong. I’ve also moved a strawberry plant outside as part of my usual rotation: first year in the greenhouse, second year outside at home and third year at the allotment. A young runner takes the greenhouse place, ready for the earlier crop I’m aiming for.

Clearing Grandad’s greenhouse for winter

At the allotment, my attention has been on Grandad’s greenhouse. I have two greenhouse structures there, but only one is glazed; sorting out the other remains a job for another time.

The tomato plants had gone brown and were looking past their best. I harvested the remaining tomatoes before chopping the plants down, with the unripe fruit coming home to ripen. The foliage is destined for composting, although my compost bins are already very full.

With the plants out, I cleared the benches, tidied up and gave everything a wash. Looking into that space now, I can think about the winter crops that will come in rather than the summer plants that need to come out. The planting is still ahead of me; this week was about getting ready.

I’ve also cleared weeds from the rhubarb and asparagus beds, added compost and topped it with straw. My aim is to look after those beds through winter and support their return to growth in spring. It’s another job done outside while more of my day-to-day growing shifts under cover.

Growing food indoors, from windowsill to kitchen shelves

Even with the growing space I have outdoors, I still find room for food plants in the house. Herbs on the kitchen windowsill are the simplest example. Microgreens and sprouting seeds are part of my indoor growing too — small additions rather than something I expect to feed the family.

Then there’s my four-tier shelf, fitted with grow lights and heated propagators. It takes up space, but it gives me somewhere to start seeds and keep young plants going during the darker part of the year. That includes making an early start with crops such as chillies and aubergines.

Alongside the shelves is my small hydroponic system, with its overhead lights. I find growing plants in water fascinating. I previously kept a tomato plant growing in that system for over a year, and it produced tomatoes.

Now there’s an aubergine in it. It was slow to get going but is growing well, and I’m hoping for aubergines during winter. That is still a hope, not a harvest I can report yet. The nutrients are one part of the set-up I don’t want to skimp on.

I don’t see the equipment as the only way to grow food indoors. My kitchen has both the lit shelves and the simple windowsill pots. They’re different ways I’m making use of the space I’ve got.

From the kitchen: jalapeño cheese bites

This week I made jalapeño cheese bites in the air fryer, using 100g each of cream cheese, cheddar and mozzarella, five jalapeños, one egg, 50g flour and breadcrumbs.

The recipe has its own separate post so the kitchen details can sit alongside the growing without getting lost in the episode notes.

Recipe: Available here

What’s growing indoors at your place?

This week hasn’t been about stopping for winter. It’s been about clear benches, fresh growing space and finding somewhere for all those young plants. I haven’t stopped growing food; I’ve just moved some of it closer to the kettle.

I’d love to hear what’s growing indoors at your place, whether it’s herbs on the windowsill or a set-up with lights. What have you made room for?

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