The Dorm Room Garden, Part I

Hi there! My name is Matt Lehman. Some of you may have read tDSC_0050he blog article I wrote while fulfilling an internship. Since then, times have changed, and I now find myself at college once again. As many of you might have read in my dad’s blog posting, I brought a small square foot garden out with me to college this year, in an attempt to grow my own vegetables year around.

Two weeks into college, the garden seems to be doing remarkably well. Sadly, I had to replant my cucumbers, as the small sprout that grew on my way out to college suddenly broke off at a single touch (oops). My green beans and tomatoes, however, are thriving. The joyous moment of my day was that, while watering, I discovered that one of my green cherry tomatoes had turned a light shade of greenish-orange, practically overnight!

However, I will be the first to admit that I am flying by the seat of my pants with this indoor garden. What little that I do know to do comes from Mel Bartholomew’s book, Square Foot Gardening. Based on the page or two that he laid down on indoor gardening, here are my recommendations (from personal experience) for starting your own indoor garden.

1). When building your indoor garden, the soil composition that I used was a beginning layer of gravel, to help with drainage, followed by about three inches of good compost, and then normal gardening soil, which I purchased at a local greenhouse.

DSC_00492). Don’t expect all of your plants that are planted indoors to sprout. For some reason, only one out of two cucumbers and one out of five green beans managed to sprout. The ones that did, however, are doing amazingly well.

3). Fluorescent bulbs, and lots of them, are essential to a healthy indoor garden. Keep in mind, though, that faster growing plants, like green beans, will quickly out grow others like cucumbers, and will attempt to steal the light. Plan accordingly.

Good luck with beginning your own gardens! I’ll keep posting as more happens with my dorm room garden.

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11 years ago

[…] my son went to college, he got national media attention for his dorm room garden. We were proud of him, but that sense of pride was nothing compared to the values, relationships […]

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