10 Best Edible Plants For Inside Garage: Tasty, Healthy & Easy To Grow!
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What Plants Can I Grow in My Garage?
Inclement weather and lack of outdoor gardening space are reasons to consider growing some plants indoors. Garage is as good a place as any, possibly better than the living room or the bedroom to start your indoor vegetable garden. So, what plants can you grow in your garage?
In fact you can grow a wide variety of leafy greens & herbs as well as vegetables and fruits in your garage. The lack of sufficient light can be compensated by grow lights. Get fresh vegetables when you need it and yet keep the mess out of sight by growing edible plants inside a garage.
My pick of 10 best edible plants for growing inside a garage is based on:
- Popularity Based on Taste
- Flexibility of Use in a Range of Dishes
- Nutritional Value
- Ease of Growing it Indoors
- Seed to Harvest Times
1. Basil
Basil is a staple of Italian cuisine. Think of a pasta, pizza or salad recipe and basil is likely to be a key ingredient. Basil pairs well with cheeses, tomatoes, garlic and lemon. However, the freshness of basil (or the lack of it) is what will make or break a dish.
Basil is easy to grow inside a garage. Grow them in pots under grow lights.
Basil does need a bit of work in the initial stages. You need to plant the seeds in seed starter trays, transplant them to a bigger pot after 3 – 4 weeks and then transplant them once again to an even bigger pot after another 3 – 4 weeks.
Basil will be ready to be harvested, a couple of weeks after the second repotting, that is 9 – 10 weeks from planting.
2. Bell Peppers
The vibrant colors, green, yellow and red are truly amazing considering it is the same fruit in different stages of ripening. Grill them, Roast them, Sauté them or just use them raw. They taste delicious every way.
Bell Peppers can be grown in pots in a garage. However, you must use grow lights as natural light inside the garage will be woefully inadequate.
Bell Peppers is not the easiest plant to grow indoors. You will need to plant it in seed starter trays. In 2 – 3 weeks they will need to be transplanted to larger containers. They will need another transplantation in 8 – 12 weeks to a 5 gallon container, where they will grow and bear fruit.
If you don’t want to wait that long, skip the process of planting seeds and buy starter plants from a garden nursery.
3. Carrots
Carrots are an universal favorite, finding their place in cuisines all over the world. Fresh crunchy carrots can be eaten raw in salads or roasted to make delicious sides. Carrots are known to add color, flavor and nutrition to soups and curries.
Carrots can be grown in a garage in 5 Gallon buckets or hydroponically using the Deep Water Culture (DWC) System.
Carrots need a minimum of 6 hours of natural sunlight. They mature faster under 8 – 10 hours of fluorescent or LED grow lights in the garage.
Carrots will be ready for harvesting in 12 – 16 weeks depending on the light and nutrients fed. Stagger their planting in the garage to get a steady supply of fresh carrots as per your requirement.
4. Kale
Kale is a superfood. It is packed with nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants. Tender leaves from a young plant are delicious when used in salads. You can sauté kale to make tasty & nutritious side dishes. Kale chips make yummy snacks!
Kale is pretty easy to grow inside a garage. Grow them in large buckets or in a garage hydroponic system. Use grow lights.
Kale thrives under 6 hours of natural sunlight, but does equally well under 4 – 6 hours of T5 Fluorescent grow lights such as HYDRO PLANET T5 Grow Lights.
Kale is a biennial. You can start harvesting kale within 55 – 70 days of planting. With the right harvesting technique, you can continue to get fresh kale for all of the first year and a part of the 2nd year.
5. Lettuce
Don’t we all love lettuce? Lettuce is essential to making healthy salads and delicious burgers, sandwiches & wraps. Wilted lettuce leaves can be a disappointment though! It is the freshness & crunchiness that makes the difference.
Secure an “on demand” supply by growing lettuce in your garage. Lettuce grows really fast under grow lights.
You can grow lettuce in your garage, either in 6” deep containers or using a garage hydroponic system such as DWC, NFT, Ebb & Flow, etc.
Romaine and Butterhead lettuce can be harvested in just 3 – 4 weeks while Iceberg lettuce will take 6 – 8 weeks.
6. Microgreens
Microgreens as the name suggests, are green & small, but pack a ton of health benefits! There was a time when microgreens could only be eaten in fancy restaurants by the rich & wealthy. But now microgreens can be enjoyed by anybody.
Microgreens are amazingly easy to grow indoors in your garage.
Microgreens are essentially young seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs. You can grow them in seedling starter tray kits or even in used salad clamshell plastic containers.
Very little effort and space is needed to plant & grow microgreens indoors in your kitchen or even in your garage. Best of all, they are ready to eat within 1 – 2 weeks of planting.
7. Mint
Fresh mint enhances the visual appeal & flavor of salads, dips, drinks and desserts. A mint tea before bed will relieve stress and help you sleep better. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have fresh mint leaves, ready to be picked, whenever you want?
Mint is extremely easy to grow in a garage. You can grow it in pots, in hydroponic systems; even in ordinary glass jars filled with water.
Mint grows vigorously and if not controlled can overrun your garden. This is an important reason to grow mint plants inside a garage. You can restrict and control its growth.
If grown from seeds, mint will take 12 – 16 weeks before it can be harvested. You can cut this time to 6 – 8 weeks if you start from cuttings.
8. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are fungi, not plants, but I have included it in my list as they are edible and are an important ingredient in recipes, all over the world. Mushrooms bring the “umami” flavor to dishes.
You can grow mushrooms in your garage in a variety of ways. Use Monotub Kits, grow them out of 5 Gallon buckets or farm them from “ready to fruit” blocks.
You could even turn growing mushrooms in your garage into a side hustle or small business.
Garage is an excellent place to grow mushrooms as they do not need much light. What mushrooms need is high humidity, reasonable warmth, high rate of air exchange and low risk of contamination.
9. Radish
Radish earns its spot on this list because of its versatility. Eat them raw in salads, pickle them, or cook them for a sweet, mellow taste. You can eat every part of the radish; leaves, stems and the root.
Grow radish in your garage even during cold & frosty winters. Radish grows very fast making it an ideal plant for cultivation inside a garage.
To get the best harvest, grow them in large pots, water them regularly, and have the grow lights turned on for 12 – 16 hours a day.
Some radish varieties can be harvested in 3 – 4 weeks while others take 6 – 8 weeks.
10. Tomatoes
No cook can imagine a kitchen without tomatoes. You need tomatoes for salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, salsa. The list seems endless. Fresh tomatoes add vibrancy & acidity, while cooked tomatoes lend color & a sweet umami flavor to a dish.
You will need to grow tomatoes in your garage under grow lights. Tomato is a summer plant that needs a lot of light for the fruits to be juicy and flavorful.
Tomatoes need to be grown indoors in large pots such as a 5 gallon plastic bucket for each plant. You can also grow tomatoes in a garage hydroponic system such as Deep Water Culture (DWC)
Check out VIVOSUN DWC Hydroponics Grow System
Smaller tomatoes such as Cherry Tomatoes can be harvested in 4 – 6 weeks. Medium sized tomatoes such as Medium Spring Tomatoes will take 10 weeks to mature for harvesting.
Thank you very much for reading the post. I do hope you found it informative and useful.
