"Beginner" is an understatement! A little guidance please.

I've never tried growing anything (not on purpose, anyways!). I'll try to make this short and to the point. Please don't take my brevity as curtness.

I live in an apartment and have a large west-facing window available. I live in southern California. My apartment temperature probably varies from the upper 80's-90's during the summer, to perhaps the [EDIT - mid 50's] during winter (I haven't actually measured the temps, these are educated guesses).

I've done a little research, but there's a lot out there. I'm looking for something easy to grow indoors that I can harvest. Fruits and/or vegetables and/or herbs would be great! But I don't know where to start. I was going to just go to a Home Depot or Lowe's and ask, but I was afraid the people working there wouldn't really know, or just be interested in making the sale, so I thought I'd find a nice forum and ask people who have actual experience. I don't have a lot of time during the workweek (daytime), so I'm looking for a minimal maintenance garden. Think "set it and forget it". (I know, it won't be that simple, but wouldn't that be nice!)

Anyways, I was hoping someone could make a few suggestions on what plants to start with, and I could delve deeper into the existing literature from there. I'd love to grow citrus fruits and avocados, but my (limited) understanding is that those are difficult to have bear fruit indoors. I also like tomatoes and understand those are pretty easy, but I don't know which kind I should start with. Vegetables? Herbs? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!

This message was edited May 29, 2013 12:33 PM

You keep your apartment at only 40° during the winter? That would be way too cold for any tropicals
Unless you are setting up an indoor greenhouse or a grow light set up you'll be very limited in what will grow with those requirements.

I'll do some more research and get back to you.( and someone else will probably jump in to offer more advice)

I am still a beginner, but I was able to get a Bearss lime and a variegated pink lemon tree to bloom while it was indoors this past winter. They were in my south facing picture window. I now have a few small fruits. But, my indoor temp never went below 69 or so. I do also put them outside during the summer. Good luck!

You can grow basically all herbs inside

To gain some more knowledge check out library book sales or just head to the library


Here's some you can grow
http://www.logees.com/Dwarf-Mulberry-Dwarf-Everbearing-Morus-nigra/productinfo/R2152-4/
http://www.logees.com/Fig-Black-Mission-Ficus-carica/productinfo/R2151-4/
http://www.logees.com/Goji-Berry-Lycium-barbarum-Crimson-Star/productinfo/P8421-4/
http://www.logees.com/Hardy-Kiwi-Set-Actinidia-arguta-Anna/productinfo/P9038-2X/

Go to Utube and check out window farms. You use plastic bottles to grow greens and herbs. Must be a hundred videos with different ways to do it. Fred.

Go ahead and go to the local nurseries or anywhere that sells plants.
Look for herbs in pots that are about 3" or 4" pots.
While a few get much larger, many will stay small enough to grow indoors.
I would pot them up into about 6" diameter pots, and set these pots in a tray that is deep enough to catch the water that will drain out when you water them.
Get some potting soil. If you see something labeled for cactus and succulents it might be good to mix that with the regular potting soil for better drainage. About 25% cactus mix + 75% potting soil.

Use a shear curtain in the summer so the plants are not in the blasting hot sun through that window, but still get good light.

Most herbs prefer to be somewhat drier between watering, so soak them well, then test with a moisture meter until you can figure out when they need water. A good DIY moisture meter is a freshly sharpened pencil. Stick it into the soil an inch down. If the wood is darkened, the soil is still moist enough, so do not water.

As you are shopping for herbs, give each one a sniff test. Crush a leaf, does it smell right? Some Oreganos for example are an almost flavorless variety.
Rosemary becomes a very large shrub, though it would work for a while. Try it.. if it gets too big, throw it away and get a new one.
There are many flavors of Thyme, and most stay quite small (a 6" pot is all they would ever need)
Oregano and Marjoram get a bit too big, but can be kept trimmed, especially if you like these herbs- every time you harvest you are trimming!
Most of the sages get pretty big. While it is fine to start with a 6" pot, you might end up moving them to a somewhat larger pot. Again, harvest = trimming, so you can keep them a bit smaller. I would just get one sage.

Annual herbs will be shorter lived than the ones I mentioned above, but are good to try.
Basil- there are so many varieties! As long as you keep the flowers nipped off they will keep on going.
Parsley- This one can keep on going for a long time, too. Again, pinch off the flowers when it tries to grow them.
Cilantro- I would keep this one away from the heat, if at all possible. It will grow well in the milder seasons, but goes to seed very quickly in the long hot summer days.
Dill, fennel get too big, I would not try these indoors.

Other than herbs, there are dwarf forms of tomato, and some vegetables stay quite small, like most lettuce. Tomato is great for the heat, lettuce is better in the cold. Look for Patio, a small tomato. The leaf types of lettuce are the easiest.

Thanks for all the replies!

@flowAjen - Yeah, I realized that 40 degrees was probably an exaggeration, so I changed my original post. But the links to logees.com were awesome! Thanks for sharing that resource!

@jaimemelon - Thanks for sharing! I'd love to grow my own lemons and limes! (They can get expensive, buying them from the market.) I'll have to find out if those will work for me.

@fordpickup - OMG. Window Farming! Who knew? What a great idea! I would never have thought of googling that without your input. Thank you! All the info I found out so far on this has pointed to vegetables and herbs, so I may have to stick to potted plants for fruits, but I may be able to use this technique for the veggies and herbs! Thanks for the info!

@Diana_K - Thanks for all the great information! I feel like I just got one of the greatest cheat-sheets in indoor gardening! I'll be sure to use the info!

Myrrhlyn,
You mentioned that buying lemons and the like is a bit costly for you.
Check out the farmers markets! I used to live in Pasadena and I would buy oranges, lemons and limes by the box full for just a few bucks, made fresh juice all the time. Also a good place to score some veggies to try out.
There is a site called freecycle.org, it's a yahoo group where people exchange all kinds of things including plant pots, dirt and plants, something you might consider looking into.
Hope that helps some. :)

mint!