Growing Mushrooms Indoors

While it is now winter but many gardeners are itching to see something grow indoors. There is something that anyone, a student in the classroom or in a dorm room or an adult at home or at her desk at work can grow at any time of the year. And that is mushrooms.

Mushrooms need a warm indoor climate and water. Companies sell the kits and all you do is follow directions. Of course, it is a bit pricier than shopping for your mushrooms in your local grocery store. But grocery shopping does not seem like as much fun as ordering a kit for growing mushrooms, following directions on how to open the package and water the growing mushrooms and watching them grow and harvesting your mushrooms in 10 days or less. Then you can enjoy your own gourmet treat with the freshest mushrooms. If you are lucky, you can grow a second batch from the same kit.

Where do you get the mushroom kits? A few suggestions to check out are:

Back to the Roots

Midwest Grow Kits

Park Seed Co.

Fungi Perfecti

Peaceful Valley Grow Organic

Have fun all you budding fungologists or mycologists.

Indoor Vegetable Gardening

I’m gonna be busy tomorrow. by Josh Kelahan

TheGardenLady has written numerous posts about vegetable gardening.  See here for example.  But all of TheGardenLady’s recent posts on vegetable gardening have been about outdoor vegetable gardening. Vegetable gardening can also be done indoors.

The idea of having fresh salads in the middle of winter seems like a nice reward for this effort. Many vegetable plants like pepper plants are easy to raise indoors. Most herbs will grow indoors (above is a photo of vegetables and herbs growing indoors under grow lights). Some of the herbs may grow indoors if you have very sunny windows. But since most vegetables and herbs need lots of sunlight, when one grows vegetables and herbs indoors, it is best to grow these plants under grow lights, designed to stimulate plant growth.

And if you are really handy, you might want to build your own benches and lighting systems to grow these plants.
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Pest Problems Related to Indoor Plants

Mealy bugs by mpshadow2003

TheGardenLady received this question from Ben about pests problems with indoor planting.

I know you have answered a few questions on dormitory planting before, and I have settled on starting with an Aspidistra and branching out once I’m comfortable with what seems to be a relatively easygoing plant. I’m simply looking to spruce up my room aside from the obvious posters and lights, so a plant and a small fish tank are on my to-do list this summer.

However, no one seems to address any kinds of pest problems related to indoor planting. Are there any major bug issues I should watch out for when dealing with dorm room plants? I have a room to myself as a Resident Advisor next year, so a south-facing window sill will be available year-round in Midwest temperate weather.

I like to keep the window open during the day so stagnant air should not be a problem, but I worry that circulation will increase the risk of infection either to or from the plant(s).

If I have missed anything or made some kind of gross assumption, your input would be much appreciated. Thanks!

You want to be prepared. Though you are correct to be concerned about raising plants indoors, most people have plants indoors and get away without serious problems. Raising plants indoors would not be such a popular hobby if there were that much to worry about.

Since all living organisms can have problems, I hope you are aware that fish can have health problems in their tank.  I remember how sad we were when our fish developed a disease known by its abbreviated name, ich.  We knew something was wrong in our first aquarium when we saw all those white spots on the fish. But raising fish is still popular and fun. You just have to be vigilant to see that everything in the tank is healthy.

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Growing Food Plants in the Dorm Room

Indoor tomatoes, 2nd part by tillwe
Indoor tomatoes, 2nd part by tillwe

TheGardenLady received this question from Daniel:

I would like to grow a food plant of some sort in my dorm room. I was wondering what kind of plant you would suggest. I don’t have a lot of time or gardening skill, so an easy to care for plant would be ideal. Also, our room has a window, but does not get direct sunlight. It stays around room temperature year round. Finally, it would be nice to be able to harvest something before the year is over. I don’t know if anything fits the bill, but suggestions would be great!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could grow our own food in our home or dorm room? I think most of us would convert a floor to a garden just to have fresh produce year round. I know that I would create a garden in my lower level which has lots of windows that are on the West and North sides of the building so they get no sunshine. And to have harvest fresh vegetables at the end of the year, for Christmas dinner, would be a gourmet’s delight. But alas, this dream has not quite been realized in my lifetime. Many of the Dick Tracy comic book inventions have come true (Dick Tracy, a popular comic strip in the 1940’s and 1950’s) and I imagine that some day growing vegetables or food easily in a dorm room will also come true. But today one really needs a green house to have success. Food plants want lots of SUN to produce food- usually at least 6 hours of sun. That is how nature created them. People who have a glass or plastic greenhouse can attempt to raise food indoors. But without that sunlight indoors, you are asking for difficulties.

I am not sure what temperature you say your dorm room is when you say “it stays around room temperature year round.” People regulate the amount of heat in their rooms and it can usually be from approximately 68 degrees to 78 degrees in the rooms. Some plants like it warmer that is why they grow in the hot summer though plants like lettuce prefer a cooler environment. And also, because a plant is in a pot, you will have to be sure that you water the plants enough. Some plants might even need humidity around them as well as to be watered. To get added humidity, put the pot in a tray with water and stones. Site the pot above the water, on the stones not in the water. In many cases the plants will need a pollinator to produce fruit. People do help pollinate when insects aren’t available to do it.

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