You can plant tomatoes indoors and have fresh salad tomatoes in about 10 weeks. So what are you waiting for? You can grow vegetables all year, even in Alaska. Many plants such as Kale, lettuce, radish, spinach, green onions, and many more do very well in containers under grow lights. You probably already have shelves and grow lights for starting seeds indoors. You can use the same equipment for growing vegetables and herbs all year long.
I have had very good results growing salad tomatoes indoors under grow lights. There are many varieties that are well suited for containers with very small, compact plants. I recommend Micro Tom, Tiny Tim, and Red Robin tomatoes for growing indoors.
Micro Tom Tomatoes
I use the Park Seed Company Bio Dome germination trays for starting seeds. They use foam grow plugs in floating blocks. The trays are filled with water and the blocks float allowing the plugs to absorb moisture like a sponge. They have a clear plastic dome with adjustable vents for regulating humidity. I use heat mats under the trays to promote germination. My germination shelves are 48” wide and I have 48” grow lights for each shelf.
You can find more indoor garden equipment and supplies on my Alaska Grow Buckets website shopping page.
I use all LED grow lights above my seedling trays. I have several different shelf units and some smaller shelf units are 36” wide. I found a 24” LED grow light at a local home center that fits these smaller shelves and has worked very well for growing salad vegetables indoors. They no longer make a 4 bulb model, but you can link 2-3 grow lights for better results.
Winter Garden Update: I had a good germination rate with tomato seeds and kale. I also started Onion and radish seeds…
…The radish are coming up now but onion seeds will take longer. I also started some Pak Choi and Prizehead lettuce.
A few weeks later the seedlings were transplanted into larger containers and are doing very well. In these photos I have Prizehead Lettuce, and Scallions, and Bok Choy.
I also have Bok Choi, salad Tomatoes, Kale, and I am trying some small Eggplant too. You can grow food all winter even in Alaska. Just move your garden indoors. Check back to follow my progress…
Blue Scotch Kale
Another batch of winter garden Kale growing in my Livingroom under LED grow light doing fine.
I use large square pots inside plastic planter boxes that I use to hold water and irrigate from the bottom. This requires a peat based grow mix to wick the water up to the roots. This is the same method that I use for my Alaska Growbuckets and it seems to work very well.
Bok Choi ready for harvest
January Winter Garden Update:
My mature Bok Choi was used to make red lentil curry with fresh homegrown vegetables. You can grow food all year long even in Alaska.
I added some slow release organic fertilizer to the planting mix and it was reused for my Micro Tom, Tiny Tim, and Red Robin winter salad tomatoes.
Tiny Tim and Micro Tom Tomatoes
Red Robin Tomatoes
February 14 Update: My indoor winter tomatoes are taking longer than expected, but I should have ripe tomatoes very soon! I have lots of green tomatoes and the plants are full of blossoms too.