On 2009-08-24, Birmingham1981 wrote:


I would like to try growing some basic culinary herbs (rosemary, basil,
coriander, thyme, parsley) and a chilli plant. I understand the herbs
are straightforward to grow from seed in a pot indoors, but what about
the chilli? Can we grow it from seed or buy a small plant and grow
that?

Chili you can grow from seed just fine, there are lots of varietes to chose
from so you can pick the exact properties you want, just make sure you select
the lifespan of the plant that you wish (many are bi-annuals), my chilies tend
to prefer a tomato-nutrient but also thrives on a normal 4-1-3 nutrient


Also, is there anything else we can feasibly grow indoors? Perhaps a
flowering plant? We do already have some bog standard houseplants but
would like to have a few more colorful additions!

Depending on how much time and money you are willing to invest you can grow
just about everything indoors. Thompson-Morgan has a good catalouge and they
have lots of resellers across the globe (if you want to try more exotic plants
I've found jungleseeds (www.jungleseeds.co.uk) to be a good source of seeds).

If you want a somewhat fast climber that flowers try beans (peas, soy and so on)
(just remember that it will need something to climb on)


If anyone has any ideas at all, I'd love to hear about them since we
have no idea how to start our indoor garden!

And a few more pointers, in case you get insects on your plants there are many
options, when all else fail try a neonicotoid (it is just about the only thing
that kills thrips, but is overkill in many other cases) such Imidacloprid
(found in Bayer Garden's "Provado" among others)

Garland Gardens are a manufacturer that makes quite excellent gardening-trays
(and other items in plastic) if you want to scale up in number of plants.
These trays also are wonderful to have as a "repotting station" since it
provides a portable workspace with high border, thusly reduces the need for
vacuuming up soil after a repotting.

Do consider using sqaure pots, they allow more plants in a smaller space, also
tends to fit better on windowsills when the plants get large (I prefer TECU
since their pots are of a thicker and sturdy plastic (roughly the same as
normal round pots have (most square pots are flimsy)).

Also, for a soilamendment (or if you want to try soilless) LECA is worth
looking into, it is both found in gardenstores (smaller sizes, expensive) or
in builders stores (bigger sizes, cheap (it is an architectural material and
used for insulation of chimneys)).

Most plants prefer to get misted every now and then (indoors are extremly dry
air).

Since I live in sweden I can't really point to specific stores, but I have
noticed that most of the seeds and equipment I buy are from UK companies

Might have been a bit verbosive, but I remember the frustration of trying to
find this out myself.

Good luck with the gardening
/Aiwendil
--
"Quite frankly, I don't like you humans. After what you all have done,
I find being 'inhuman' a compliment."
-- Spider Robinson, "Callahan's Secret"