All you need to start early is soil that drains well, small containers, an area that gets good sun indoors and some water. Nothing special and no different than what you would be doing outside when you go to plant seeds except by starting them inside in small containers you get that extra jumpstart and can shave weeks off of your first harvest. You can grow inside for many weeks before you transplant your plants outside into the garden. This will also help you ensure you have enough plants growing for what you need in the upcoming season by knowing how many seeds planted have started to grow you get more confidence in there survival when moved outside.

If you use peat pods they are very small and take very little room to store in a house. You can place them in a window sill and as soon as you see the first leaf unfold transplant them to a larger container. As soon as the soil is no longer frozen and the climate is ready for planting seeds you can transplant your already few weeks old plants outside.

In my experience, produce like tomatoes and peppers are perfect candidates for an indoor vegetable garden as they can thrive in a container and will not take up a terrible amount of space in your house. If you have pets or children, it is best to use a container stand to get the plants off of the ground to avoid them being ruined.

The one major thing you need to keep in mind with an indoor vegetable garden is the watering. Unlike keeping your plants outside where you can trust the occasional rain storm will keep the soil wet, inside, it is all up to you. You need to be sure to properly water the plant which could mean daily early on.

My personal favorite thing to grow in my indoor vegetable garden is herbs. I like to keep them in the kitchen by the window and grow chives and cilantro. Give it a try this year and remember, it doesn’t matter if you have a yard or not, growing inside just takes a window and watering.

Here is a great forum which can help you out on your journey to creating an indoor vegetable garden

Here is how you can grow your own tomato plant from seed:

First of all, if you are very new to gardening, I would recommend buying a tomato plant from a nursery and skip the seed part. This will allow you to harvest and learn how to grow on a developed plant. As you get more experienced, then go from seed. Remember, it’s all about learning. Don’t bite off too much in the beginning, allow yourself time to mature in your living a more self sufficient lifestyle.

If you do go from seed, pick up your seeds and keep reading. You will need to start them out in a peat pot and transplant them once they have three leaves or more on each. They require a sunny location and the soil should always remain moist. Keep them away from the cold.

Once they have matured and they have three leaves, move them into a larger pot planting the peat pod into the soil. Provide the soil feed or fertilizer and water often as tomatoes like to be well watered. Like any plant, you will want to watch your tomatoes for bugs and treat accordingly. Remember, you will eat these tomatos later on. When choosing a treatment for bugs, always remember that!

The stems of the plants will eventually get weighed down by the weight of the plant. To help, use either a cage or drive a steak into the soil to help support the plants weight.

As you can tell tomatos are easy to grow. The best part is that you can grow your own tomatos in a pot or in a bed which means anyone living anywhere can grow them. All you need is seed, peat pods, water and fertilizer. Eventually a larger pot or garden bed, and treatment for bugs as needed.

Keep the soil moist and in a sunny location. Eventually your plants will show you why it was worth the effort.