A Glimpse into Creating a Sunroom Vegetable Garden

You can optimize your sunroom usage by creating a year-round vegetable garden. Varieties of vegetables that thrive with indoor growing include peppers, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots. When buying your starter plants or seeds, find varieties that include the words baby, mini or patio in their name, as these were bred to produce well in planters and boxes.

Ideal Light & Temperature

Your sunroom should bring in approximately 10 to 14 hours of sunlight (6 to 8 of the hours should be direct sunlight). Your plants should be grown in a south-facing window, if not possible then southwest or southeast, at the very least. Other ideal conditions include having good air circulation in your sunroom and a constant temperature of 60-75 F with little to no drafts. If the recommended amount of sunlight is not an option, then artificial lighting would be required.

Getting Started with Seedlings

If starting your plants from seed, you should start your seedlings in late February to early March and you may need to increase your room temperature to 75-80 F. If seedlings are started during colder months, artificial lighting could be beneficial depending on your sunroom location. It is recommended that an organic fertilizer should be used such as a tomato, vegetable and herb fertilizer. Read instructions on the fertilizer package as some varieties of vegetables need more than others. Special attention to the soil dryness should be paid as indoor soil will dry faster than when in garden beds outside. You should also harvest your vegetables as soon as they are ready to stop your plants from going to seed. Stagger planting of your seeds or seedlings depending on your family’s consumption, planting vegetables a couple of weeks apart. This will prevent an overabundance of one type of vegetable.

If this glimpse of having a vegetable garden in your sunroom is something that interests you there are numerous sites online that will give you all the information you need to produce fresh vegetables for your family and maximize your sunroom space. Happy Sunroom Planting!