Turning a basement into a greenhouse

[Greensage45]

I gotta ask Ninny, are you allowed out of the house? It seems that you are insisting that someone actually say the words: "grow vegetables year-round indoors".

Even if someone could do this, and even if someone has done this, the trial is your own. You know you need: heat, lighting, and adequate airflow to grow healthy plants. You have to make the adjustments yourself.

LOL, I am sorry but I am feeling really odd about your question here. Not the questions themselves, but the repeated use of the word 'year-round'. I get a shiver! Please get out in the garden! Go for a walk! Enjoy the great outdoors! These are the simple pleasures in life. If someone is insisting that things be done year round then you clearly need a greenhouse like the 'BioDome'.

If you are being held hostage just say the word and one of us could secretly call the police! Although it might be helpful to know where you are. Could you please add a zone or location to your signature line?

Ron

 

[vfem]

I was wondering how smart it would be. Kinda rethinking it. What about a spare room? It doesn't get so cold. I could just use grow lights then. I want to do tomatoes and peppers at least year round. Could i grow them in a rubber maid tub with a light on them? What about herbs? Could i start them from seed if i order them now and grow them in the house year round?

I did all my starts from seed last year in the bathroom, though we thought about doing a greenhouse this year, it was decided not to... so I'll be going back to the bathroom operation. When it comes down to it, you can grow pretty much anything anywhere... problem is COST!

 

[ninny]

I gotta ask Ninny, are you allowed out of the house? It seems that you are insisting that someone actually say the words: "grow vegetables year-round indoors".

Even if someone could do this, and even if someone has done this, the trial is your own. You know you need: heat, lighting, and adequate airflow to grow healthy plants. You have to make the adjustments yourself.

LOL, I am sorry but I am feeling really odd about your question here. Not the questions themselves, but the repeated use of the word 'year-round'. I get a shiver! Please get out in the garden! Go for a walk! Enjoy the great outdoors! These are the simple pleasures in life. If someone is insisting that things be done year round then you clearly need a greenhouse like the 'BioDome'.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/04/0423_efte/image/11-earthpark.jpg

If you are being held hostage just say the word and one of us could secretly call the police! Although it might be helpful to know where you are. Could you please add a zone or location to your signature line?

Ron

Nope im not being held hostage! I got a good laugh out of that Thanks!! Im planing on having a outside garden too. I just want to have fresh veggies at all times even when the snow is two feet deep. Should i just dig up the plants before the first frost pop them in tubs and see what happens?

 

[vfem]

Tubs... good point. If I can find the girl's blog, someone was doing a whole growing operation in her bathtub in their spare bathroom last year. She had all kinds of things growing! I'm not even sure they were ALL quite legal... but everything looked green and happy!

 

[patandchickens]

I was wondering how smart it would be. Kinda rethinking it. What about a spare room? It doesn't get so cold. I could just use grow lights then. I want to do tomatoes and peppers at least year round. Could i grow them in a rubber maid tub with a light on them? What about herbs? Could i start them from seed if i order them now and grow them in the house year round?

Yes, if you apply GREAT LOTS OF ELECTRIC BILL to the project, and don't mind poor-quality produce.

It might be better however to accept that we live in a seasonal world and that not all foods are available in all months

Up here, an hour north of Toronto, I could have fresh greens all year round if I wanted to expend the effort; I already usually have tomatoes til american Thanksgiving (not this year, too few); canned and stored fruits/veggies all winter; and you can start forcing rhubarb in early spring if you want, maybe even earlier I dunno.

Have you read Elliott Coleman's books, the ones on outdoor (cold frame, cold greenhouse) cropping in the North? You might find some ideas there that you want to pursue -- it won't get you tomatoes, but frankly nothing but summertime will get you summer-quality tomatoes ANYhow (and the inferior ones you can grow if you try really, really hard end up quite expensive)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[ducks4you]

.... Yep... gardening should be fun!...

ninny Here's some great info for seed starting ... http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8703.html

I enjoyed this link. It wasn't like...1,000 pages long!!

I should probably add: All my plants are legal within the state I live...

DH is an attorney, so we're not ALLOWED to grow anything illegal!!

 

[HiDelight]

Ok I have to step in here I strive to be a perpetual gardener inside and out ..even at my desk at work..where I am made fun of! ... I grow stuff to eat and flower ..all over the place! and now that my basement is finished I I have tables set up to grow under lights indoors as well ...growing is growing and the fact I can put something in the dirt inside my house or in the garden and have it turn to food or flowers is just amazing!

I also grow tons of flowering plants inside ..I want my inside and outside to have very fuzzy lines ...like that guy on PBS P Allen Smith says the lines shoudl be blurred between garden and house

now one advantage I have is a LOT of windows and light even in our dreary climate I maximize and so my bills are not bad at all in fact I do not notice any increases ..during the summer my water bill makes up for the power bill so it all evens out ..

and the stuff I have grown ..herbs ..lemon grass ...lettuce ..micro greens all wonderful ..even spinach ...not as perfect as outside but damn better than the grocery store pasty stuff

hydroponics is in my future it is fun to try stuff like this ..I have grown peanuts in a sunny window pot! you just put a couple of raw peanuts in a pot and they grow under lights if you want into peanuts! amazing

good luck I dont know what to tell you about how to do it other than just begin and let it grown ..literally ..my house is jungle and I also believe a lot of things growing in the house gives you cleaner air!

I do not cave to the seasons and will continue to enjoy and be a perpetual gardener even with naysayers ..it cheers me up ..makes great meals and is fun!!!


wait one more story my grandfather paid for my fathers college growing African violets in the basement under lights ..it is not food but he did do it and so maybe I got the urge from him I Hope

 

[4grandbabies]

HiDelight, you are doing what I am getting ready to try..I have a huge window where my available space is, and it gets direct morning sun.Then, in the afternoon, I have windows on the other side that gets direct afternoon sun, makes for a hot kitchen in the sommer, but in the winter, a perfect place to grow, I hope. I dont have my set up complete yet, but am working on it. It will be poor gals style, I cant afford the fancy grow lights etc, but have a plan for my own. We will see.
This is one cold day in Missouri!

 

[injunjoe]

HiDelight, you are doing what I am getting ready to try..I have a huge window where my available space is, and it gets direct morning sun.Then, in the afternoon, I have windows on the other side that gets direct afternoon sun, makes for a hot kitchen in the sommer, but in the winter, a perfect place to grow, I hope. I dont have my set up complete yet, but am working on it. It will be poor gals style, I cant afford the fancy grow lights etc, but have a plan for my own. We will see.
This is one cold day in Missouri!

You don't have to spend big bucks on fancy grow setups!
A cheap shop light with full spectrum bulbs will do wonders.
If you get a few you can stand them on end and form a semi circle to grow taller plants. The possibilities are only limited to creativeness.

I think the only reason Ninny's idea was kind of shot down here was the fact the basement was said it would freeze. That would have taken a lot of cost to keep warm. Although a reasonable priced light could be used. I have a few High Pressure Sodium fixtures that came from Home Depot, they cost about $80.00 and are 150 watts.
The spectrum from them promotes flowering or budding!
But they get very hot! In a cold room they would not only light the plant it would also warm it!

Joe

 

[4grandbabies]

Thanks Joe, I am excited, I at least want salad vegs, and herbs. I have always started my own spring tomatoes,peppers etc. this year, I am going to start as many flowers for the garden as I can. Our kids are going to do the big family garden, but I want something I can sit and do or a small area that wont tire me.. thanks to these new fibromyalgia meds, I am doing pretty good right now, and my enthuasiam is thru the roof!! I cant stop!!