Vegetable gardening is a favorite pastime for many, especially for those of us who love to cook with fresh vegetables and herbs. However, in order to grow your own vegetable garden, its common thought that a big open space in your yard is needed. The good news is that this is not the case.

If you are someone who doesnt have a lot of room outside, consider using indoor containers for your vegetable gardening. By gardening indoors, you may not be able to garden big vegetables and your options may be limited, but there are definitely some benefits to indoor vegetable gardening with containers.

The Types of Vegetables Best Suited for Indoor Container Gardening

For indoor gardening, you will want to use smaller vegetables, so things like corn are probably out of the question. However tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and even green beans or carrots can be viable vegetable options for indoor container gardening. Anything that can be contained in some type of container without being cramped and restricted from growing well can work well for your indoor garden, and these fresh vegetables will make a world of difference in your cooking.

The Kinds of Containers to Use

For indoor container vegetable gardening, containers that have wholes in the bottom are the best to use. This gives the soil a chance to eliminate un-needed water which otherwise would kill your vegetables. You simply place the container on top of a deep dish that can catch the water, and empty the dish every so often depending on how much water the vegetables discard.

Depending on the vegetable, large containers used for plants can work well. Tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers do well in plant containers. For vegetables like carrots or green beans, youll want to use narrower, longer containers. These kinds of containers offer a row like garden, similar to what youd find outside for these vegetables.

The soil used should be specifically for vegetable gardening, and the kind used outside will do just as well inside. Youll probably want to make sure and find a place for your indoor container vegetable gardens that has access to light during the day, but keeps the vegetables safe from frost and chilly nights at the same time. If you cant find such a place, find one of each and simply move them from one place to another when necessary.

After just a few weeks of indoor container gardening, you should find that your vegetables are growing nicely and are ready for picking shortly. If you keep up on the replanting when its time, you can have fresh indoor vegetables throughout the entire year

Why pay nearly $10 per pound for fresh gourmet lettuce (that might not be all that fresh) when you can grow your own custom lettuce blends right at home, ready to be picked and eaten whenever you're in the mood for a truly fresh salad?

Lettuce is an easy to grow crop that's ready to eat quickly, often in less than a month. You can even harvest it after a couple weeks for micro greens. It prefers cool weather, such as in the spring and fall, and lots of light. During the summer it can be difficult to keep the plants cool enough, resulting in bitter leaves or the plants bolting to seed.

There are many different lettuces and other salad greens (like chervil, purslane) available. I recommend growing leaf lettuces, rather than head lettuces (like iceberg). This makes it easy to snip of a few leaves whenever you want. The lettuce plant will keep making new leaves for you to eat!

If you're new to growing your own lettuce and don't know which ones you'll like or which will grow best for you, try a prepackaged mix of seeds. These can usually be found where you buy seeds locally, or can be purchased online, such as the Master Chef Blend, Organic Salad Bowl Mix and the Summer Glory Blend with heat resistant varieties.

You can start your lettuce seeds wither in the container they're going to live in or in smaller starter containers and transplant them later. I like to start mine separately so I can arrange the plants in a larger container to give an attractive design. Cover the seeds with a very thin layer of soil and keep them moist. Indoors they should sprout in two days to a week.

If you started the plants separately you can transplant them when they're two to three weeks old. Once they've recovered from transplanting, harden them off for a few days before keeping them outside.

Lettuce has a shallow root system and needs to be watered very regularly, especially as the weather warms up. When the weather gets hot you can move your lettuce to the shade of taller plants, or move the container to a cooler location, perhaps one that doesn't get direct sunlight all day. You can also build a small shade over to partially block the sun.

If your plants look like they're getting ready to bolt (you'll learn to recognize this), you can try digging them up and replanting them. This shock can cause the plant to focus on its roots and getting growing again, rather than making seeds.

To harvest your lettuce you can either carefully break off the leaf, being careful not to disturb the roots or pull the plant right out of the ground, or use a set of clean scissors or shears to cut the leaf close to the ground. A quick rinse and a spin in the salad spinner (or gently pat dry with some paper towels) and you're ready to go!

Lettuce alone can make a decent salad, but you can take it to the next level by adding some non-lettuce plants. Perhaps a little mint to give a cool, refreshing character? How about some salad burnet, which tastes like cucumber? Arugula gives a spicy, peppery flavor.

Once you start eating your own home-grow lettuce you'll wonder why you didn't start years ago. Enjoy your fresher, healthier and tastier salads!