Winter is a time of snowstorms, movie nights by the fire and ... fresh, homemade salsa? At least, it can be for those who apply their green thumb to indoor vegetable gardening. With a little gear and know-how, a wide variety of fresh produce can be successfully grown throughout the winter, even cilantro and chilies. “My nine-year-old daughter loves
to grow lettuce, carrots, peppers and herbs,” says Chad Knight, who teaches classes on indoor gardening in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which can get over 13 inches of snow in December. “We can do that all year round.” Tomatoes, kale, radishes and more can all be grown indoors. Which plants you choose should depend on your taste and how much room you have. Anyone with a spare windowsill can grow a few herbs. If you have more space, fill a bookshelf with rows of lettuce, or grow larger veggies in a tub beside your sofa. According to Knight, gardeners with a lot of space can buy a grow tent and turn a spare room into a greenhouse.

But all you really need to get started are containers, soil and a good lighting system to mimic the long growing days of summer. Herbs and leafy greens are good for beginners because they grow easily and have shallow roots, which means they can live in smaller containers. Lettuce, kale and spinach can be grown in pots or troughs, and many can yield for a prolonged period if only the outermost leaves are harvested. If you want to grow deeper-rooting plants such as carrots, you can save space if you buy a round variety such as Thumbelina, Atlas or Parisian. Plants that get very bushy or leggy — like tomatoes or peppers — can be pruned, or miniature varieties can be selected. Keep in mind that tomatoes have to be staked in order to keep them upright and allow the fruit to ripen. Lighting is key to the success of your garden. No matter the season, a house is a dark habitat for produce. In northern winters, even windowbox gardens need a little extra light. According to Knight, herbs and leafy greens do fine with a few 50-watt grow light bulbs, but larger plants prefer high-intensity lighting systems, such as halide or high-pressure sodium bulbs.

Such systems use more energy, but the light and heat they generate will help your plants flourish. These are typically placed in a light box designed to replicate the intense rays of full summer sun. Perfecting your produce takes trial and error. Tend your garden like you would any other: Pay attention, remove dead
or fallen leaves, consider fertilizing and don’t overwater. Knight notes that indoor vegetables are particularly vulnerable to fungus, so he recommends using a fanto prevent condensation and to keep the air circulating, mimicking the breeze that blows over an outdoor garden. “Think about all the little cues that nature gives a plant,” Knight says. “What you’re trying to do is bring the outdoors inside.”What are Fast Plants®? Fast Plants® are a type of crucifer (a large group of plants that includes mustard, radish, cabbage, and more) that have been bred and selected to have a uniform, short flowering time (14 days) and grow well under in a small indoor space, with little soil, under artificial lights. 

How long is the Fast Plant® life cycle? The entire life cycle for Fast Plants® is extremely short, and under ideal growing conditions of continuous light, water, and nutrition, plants will produce harvestable seeds approximately 40 days after planting.  Where did Fast Plants® come from? Fast Plants® are rapid-cycling Brassica rapa plants that Dr. Paul Williams bred as a research tool that could be used for improving disease resistance of cruciferous plants (a large group of plants that includes mustard, radish, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, and more). Hp Laptops Sale JamaicaIn order to speed up the genetic research in the crucifers, he began breeding Brassica rapa and six related species from the family Cruciferae for shorter life cycles. Mobile Homes For Sale Lemoore CaThe end result: petite, quick-growing plants known as Fast Plants®. House And Lot For Sale In Samar

Is there only one kind of Fast Plant? Most Fast Plants® classroom activities are written for use with Standard Fast Plants seed. There are also a variety of other specialized plant types that are particularly well-suited for investigating topics in areas such as: genetics, physiology, and environmental studies.  Where do I get the seeds for Fast Plants®? To order Fast Plants® seeds, growing kits, and related materials contact Carolina Biological Supply Company at 1-800-334-5551. How do I care for Fast Plants®? Fast Plants® are fun and easy to grow. The two most important elements to growing healthy Fast Plants® are 24-hour fluorescent light and a light potting mix (not potting soil) for planting.  What can my students learn growing Fast Plants®? Teachers and learners use Fast Plants® in classrooms from kindergarten through college and beyond. Learners of all ages can explore a wide variety of questions with Fast Plant and learn by engaging in genuine scientific inquiry. 

Visit the Digital Library »Plants react differently to different colors of light. Everyone knows plants are food factories, and most are aware that their energy source is light. This transformation of light into food is called photosynthesis. What may be news to you, however, is that the color of the light has a measurable impact on the amount of energy a plant absorbs. The reason for this is the colors in light have different wavelengths and those wavelengths, depending on whether they are short or long, provide different levels of energy. The highest energy light is at the purple or violet end of the color light spectrum. Purple and violet lights have short wavelengths and thus lots of energy. At the other end of the spectrum, you will find red light which has long wavelengths and emits lower energy. Regardless of whether the color of the light is red or purple the plant will absorb some amount of energy from the light it is receiving. Green light is the least effective for plants because they are themselves green due to the pigment Chlorophyll.

Different color light helps plants achieve different goals as well. Blue light, for example, helps encourage vegetative leaf growth. Red light, when combined with blue, allows plants to flower. Cool fluorescent light is great for cultivating plant growth indoors. Knowing that different colors of light can affect what a plant does is important in a world that depends on plants for food. Advanced LED technology is now making it possible to control the kinds of colored light we provide plants in controlled environments. We can now design lighting to encourage flowering or to produce higher fruit yields for example. Many plant functions can be enhanced and promoted just by knowing what light colors they react and respond to. For a hungry world just waking up to the effects of Global Warming, this is critical. It will allow us to provide environmentally friendly alternatives to help improve crop quality and growth without having to resort to powerful fertilizers and genetically modified food.