You can grow some of your own food even during the coldest months of the year with an indoor winter kitchen garden…

The weather is turning colder and dark comes earlier these days, but that doesn’t mean you have to go another 6 months without the joy of green and growing things! While many gardeners throw in the towel when winter weather arrives, it is possible to grow some of your own food indoors even during the coldest months. The trick, as the article below explains, is to know your limits and make the right choices when it comes to deciding what to grow in your indoor winter kitchen garden.

You shouldn’t expect to be able to grow all the same vegetables you grow in the summer, and of course you won’t have enough indoor space to have a full garden as you may outdoors in the spring, summer, or fall.

However, you can certainly supplement your winter diet with some fresh, homegrown food if you take the right approach and temper your expectations to what is possible to grow in an indoor winter kitchen garden.

Here are 4 tips from ModernFarmer.com:

1. Choose Wisely

There are plenty of plants that can be grown indoors, including tomatoes, kale, radishes and more. Choose plants based on your taste and how much room you have to garden. Anyone with a spare windowsill can grow a few herbs. Those with more space can get creative. Maybe fill a bookshelf with rows of lettuce, or grow larger veggies in a tub beside your sofa…. All you really need to get started are containers, soil, and a good lighting system to mimic the long growing days of summer.

2. Contain Yourself

Herbs and leafy greens are good for beginners because they grow easily and have shallow roots, which means they can live in smaller containers. Lettuce, kale and spinach can be grown in pots or troughs, and many can yield for a prolonged period if only the outermost leaves are harvested.

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3. See the Light

Lighting is key to the success of your indoor winter kitchen garden. No matter the season, a house is a dark habitat for produce. In northern winters, even window box gardens need a little extra light. …Herbs and leafy greens do fine with a few 50-watt grow light bulbs, but larger plants prefer high-intensity lighting systems, such as halide or high-pressure sodium bulbs. Such systems use more energy, but the light and heat they generate will help your plants flourish…

Read More at ModernFarmer.com…