Easy-to-Grow Indoor Vegetables
Growing vegetables indoors is easier than most people think. Knowing which veggies are beginner-friendly or which vegetables are considered easy to grow indoors can make it even easier.
Along with saving money, growing your vegetables at home can give you a sense of pride and accomplishment. Why pay the full price for produce when you can grow vegetables indoors, and easily at that?
What are some easy-to-grow indoor vegetables? Radishes, potatoes, hot peppers, green onions, carrots, lettuce, garlic, beets, and herbs are all easy-to-grow indoor vegetables.
Ahead, I’ll introduce you to plenty more veggies that are simple to grow indoors. I’ll provide some background information and growing tips for each one, so check it out!
Vegetables That Are Easy to Grow in an Indoor Garden
Radishes
Radishes have a zesty, crispy flavor and have been tied to such health benefits as better digestion, improved cardiovascular health, and weight loss.
To grow this pretty purple-pink vegetable at home or the office, you won’t have to put a whole lot of effort in.
Radish plants require direct sunlight for more than six hours a day (artificial light works just as well).
Keep the temperatures cool at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
If growing radishes in soil (you can also grow them hydroponically), they need well-draining but moist soil.
Never saturate the radishes in water. Avoid excess humidity as well.
You’ll be rewarded for your efforts relatively soon. Radishes sprout in a week or two after planting.
You can harvest your first radish in a month or two after planting them.
Potatoes
Everyone’s favorite spud, the potato, is also exceptionally simple to grow indoors.
Imagine having an abundance of your own homegrown potatoes to make fries, roasted potatoes, hashbrowns, homemade potato chips, or gnocchi. That goal is within reach!
Potatoes planted indoors need a deep container so they can grow within the soil’s depths. The soil should be highly acidic with a pH of 4.8 to 6.0.
The growing spuds need sunlight or artificial light for eight to 10 hours every day.
Keep the soil moist but well-draining. The soil should never be allowed to dry out.
The best potato varieties to grow indoors are the Irish Cobbler, German Butterball, Rose Finn Apple aka the fingerling, Red Norland, Red Gold, and Yukon Gold.
Be patient, as it will take between 90 and 120 days for the spuds to be ready for harvesting.
Peppers
Peppers are colorful, flavorful, and a great source of fiber, folic acid, potassium, and vitamins A and C.
Some are milder than others, and the spicy ones will undoubtedly put a huge pep in your step!
If you have pepper seeds, you can use those seeds to grow peppers in your indoor garden.
Should you prefer things on the spicier side, grow the Capsicum annuum aka the ornamental pepper. It comes in red, orange, yellow, and green varieties!
When growing pepper plants from seed, the seeds should be planted right under the surface of the soil. Keep the soil moist every day and make sure the peppers get full sunlight or use artificial light.
It can take between two and three weeks for the peppers to germinate.
In the future, as the peppers mature, water only when the top inch of soil is dry.
Green Onions
The green onion is more commonly referred to as the scallion. Some call it the spring onion as well.
If you’re not a huge fan of chives, shallots, or garlic, scallions have a much milder taste.
You can grow scallions from seed or propagate existing green onions to grow more.
Scallions prefer moist but well-draining soil since they have a shallow root system. Grow the plant in a pot that’s at least six inches deep.
Bright sunlight for six to eight hours a day will grow healthy green scallions.
Once the green onions grow about six inches tall, you can harvest them.
Some indoor gardeners only snip off the top of the scallions while others take the whole plant out. The bulb is indeed edible!
Carrots
Carrots sure are an incredible vegetable, wouldn’t you say?
They can control blood sugar, are packed with beta-carotene and vitamin A for a lower risk of diabetes, and they contain vitamin K and calcium for stronger bones.
Whether you choose to grow the traditional orange carrots or explore the other rainbow of carrot colors, this veggie is so easy to care for indoors.
Plant your carrot seeds in a soil bed about an inch apart, moisten them, and provide sunlight.
Allow the soil to dry out an inch deep before replenishing with more water.
The seedlings will eventually begin to sprout. When the carrots reach a height of three inches, you should fertilize them every two weeks with a full-strength houseplant fertilizer.
Wait for the carrots to develop their full depth of color, which is a sure sign that they’re mature and ready for harvesting!
Lettuce
Lettuce may be 95 percent water, but the veggie is supposed to help you get better sleep, improve your vision, and boost your bone strength thanks to vitamin K.
So how do you grow lettuce in your cubicle or living room? It’s so easy that you won’t be able to believe you haven’t been doing it this whole time.
Lettuce heads need space between one another so their shallow roots can grow uninterrupted.
Provide partial sunlight for 12 or more hours, using artificial light as well as natural sunlight to help you.
Seedlings need even more light, between 14 and 16 hours per day.
The seedlings also do best in temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees.
Lettuce should never have dry soil as it grows, but it doesn’t need saturated, soaking soil either.
Raise the humidity over the relative average to at least 50 percent and up to 70 percent. You’ll need a humidifier to maintain those moist conditions!
Garlic
Sure, some people are put off by the strong smell and flavor of garlic (and no, they’re not vampires), but who says you need to eat the herb fresh? You can always dry out the garlic and use it as a seasoning.
You can harvest your own garlic bulbs right on your windowsill. Take halved cloves and insert them into a soil bed with the pointed side upward. Leave the papery skin intact.
The cloves should be three inches deep in the soil and then buried a half-inch deep.
Keep the soil well-draining, loose, and moderately acidic with a pH of 6.5 to 7.0.
Provide direct sunlight for six or more hours each day and keep the plant’s soil nice and moist but never soggy and saturated.
You’ll have to wait about eight months to harvest your garlic, but the results will be so worth it!
Garlic can control cholesterol and blood pressure, increase your immunity, and might even be able to ward off dementia and certain types of cancers.
Beets
Sharing a species with radishes, if you’ve grown that ruby red veggie, you might as well add some beets to your indoor garden as well.
To set up your beets for success when grown indoors, choose a pot with a depth of at least 10 inches. This will allow the beet’s roots to expand.
Add well-draining soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 that’s slightly acidic but more neutral.
The beet seeds need moist conditions and at least six hours of sunlight (eight hours is fine too!).
Beets sprout up fast, in at least five to 10 days.
The plants are at that point germinated but not ready for harvesting yet. That takes another seven to eight weeks.
Beets have a floral and sweet flavor that’s sure to brighten up your day. Low-calorie, beets might reduce inflammation, help with digestion, control blood pressure, and even ward off some cancers.
Herbs
That’s right, vegetables include herbs as a subset. Herbs are incredibly easy to grow indoors.
Better yet, is that you don’t even need a lot of space to do so.
If all you have is a cramped studio apartment or a cubicle to grow an indoor garden, herbs are perfect.
Try growing these fragrant, flavorful herbs:
- Thyme
- Lemongrass
- Sage
- Cilantro
- Rosemary
- Basil
- Parsley
- Mint
- Oregano
- Chives
- Dill
- Lemon balm
For more information on growing herbs from seed indoors, you should also read my article, The Fastest Growing Herbs from Seed.
Peas
Peas are jam-packed with antioxidants, zinc, vitamins C and E, and vitamins A and B. They also don’t taste as bad as you remember as a kid, I promise!
If you decide to add peas to your indoor veggie garden (which you really should), provide them with eight to 10 hours of bright sunlight (or artificial light) each day.
Combine equal parts compost and potting soil for the pea seeds, which must be distanced two inches apart from one another.
Peas need consistently moist soil too. Oh, and be sure to use toothpicks or a mini trellis to support the growing pea plant. Otherwise, it will topple right over.
You can’t go wrong growing dwarf peas, snow peas, and snap peas indoors especially. They’re super simple!
Arugula
The Eruca vesicaria is also known as arugula or rocket. If you think that lettuce has a boring, barely-there flavor, you’ll love the spicy kick that’s in every bite of arugula.
Arugula starts from seeds. Those seeds need five or more hours of direct sunlight per day. Use a regular potting mix as well.
Keep the soil moist. When the soil gets too dry, the roots can die, and the growing arugula might not recover.
You’ll notice arugula sprouts in a week or two. The veggie is ready to harvest in about two months.
Even better is that arugula is a nutritional powerhouse, containing magnesium, potassium, folate, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, and calcium. It’s worth growing for a healthier you!
Swiss Chard
Chard, which is also called Swiss chard, is a leafy vegetable with green leaves and distinct stalks that are often pink but can also be purple, red, yellow, or white.
The flavor is akin to beets, so slightly sweet and slightly bitter as well.
When grown indoors, Swiss chard needs 10 to 18 hours of sunlight each day.
You’ll undoubtedly need to use a grow light to help you out. T5 or T8 florescent bulbs are suitable for this leafy green vegetable in its early growing stages, as are LEDs.
Before adding the seeds to the soil, soak them in a glass of warm water for at least 24 hours. It might sound strange, but this will encourage germination.
In a starting seed tray, add one to three seeds for each hole. They should be spaced a few inches from each other. Maintain moist soil around the clock.
Since several sprouts can grow from the same seed, you’ll have to trim the weaker one using gardening scissors, but that’s the toughest part of Swiss chard care.
Kale
The strong, earthy taste of kale makes it more palatable to most compared to arugula.
If that’s convinced you to grow kale, choose dwarf kale. Other kale varieties can have a spread of over two feet, which can be a little overwhelming when growing the vegetable indoors.
A sunny window is great for your kale plant, but artificial light such as a grow light is suitable as well. The plant requires eight hours of sunlight per day.
Space the kale seeds about four or five inches apart so they have room to grow without crowding one another.
Water the kale plant regularly and consider adding a humidity dome to ensure the plant is getting plenty of moisture that way too.
About 60 days after you plant the kale seeds, this leafy veggie is ready for harvesting!
This dark, leafy green vegetable is super healthy, as it might safeguard you from cancer and heart disease while bettering heart health and immunity.
Cauliflower
The fibrous white vegetable known as cauliflower is a water-containing treat that might be able to cut your colon cancer risk and ward off constipation. Cauliflower can also aid in digestion.
Witnessing a cauliflower head sprout from your indoor garden is the stuff of wonders, and it’s not so challenging to reach that point, either!
When growing cauliflower from seed, do it in the winter. The seeds should go into planting pots full of well-draining soil.
The soil should remain moist.
Cauliflower germinates in very cold temperatures of around 45 degrees. Considering you’re growing yours in December or January, it’s not so hard to get the temperature requirement of this indoor plant right.
In about two or three weeks, you’ll notice the cauliflower will sprout.
About six weeks later, put the seedlings in a container 18 inches from one another. Now you can raise the temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees. Continue to maintain soil moisture too.
In about 70 to 120 days after you plant them, the cauliflowers can be harvested.
Broccoli
A member of the cabbage family, broccoli is full of bioactive compounds, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins that can improve heart health and blood sugar. Broccoli may also reduce your risk of some cancer types.
Are you ready to grow broccoli indoors? Broccoli should be buried in soil that’s six to 12 inches deep.
Each broccoli head needs three feet of space, so you might only want to grow one or two at a time unless you have the room at home or the office.
Alternatively, you can grow broccoli in a hydroponic garden.
Broccoli needs upwards of eight hours of sunlight per day; artificial light is a-okay too.
Keep the soil moist and never let it dry out further than the top inch.
Set the temperature between 55 and 75 degrees.
When the broccoli grows full, firm stalks, remove the broccoli on the stem about six inches down. That plant will continue to produce broccoli heads in the future.
Spinach
Yet another green, leafy vegetable to add your indoor garden is spinach.
If you need more spinach in your diet, you can grow this plant with ease.
Begin by soaking the spinach seeds in a jar of water for at least 24 hours. Do this a week ahead of planting the seeds.
Be sure to transfer the seeds to an airtight container in the interim so they maintain their moisture levels.
Next, fill a pot with organic, well-draining, rich potting soil and add the seeds. Bury them in a half-inch of soil. Water the soil so it’s nice and moist but never soaking.
Apply a nitrogen fertilizer with rotted manure or fish emulsion.
I’ve had great results from using fish emulsion regularly as the main fertilizer on my indoor spinach.
Fred Zimmer
If you’re not familiar with using fish emulsion on indoor plants I recommend reading my post titled, Is Fish Fertilizer Good for Plants?
When your plant is ready for harvesting, you can simply trim the leaves off one by one and add them directly to a salad.
