Use items you already have around the house to grow your own indoor mini-garden - while also reducing food waste!
Follow these tips to create your own garden and share the produce with your local food pantry!
First you have to get seeds. You can get some seeds from a nearby garden center or store, or you can get them from someone you know, or you might find some laying around.
Then you would have to plant seeds in open soil. I'd recommend planting lettuce or radish seeds because they grow fast.
You can use a watering can or a spray bottle (depending on how and what you plan to grow) to water them.
Put your plants where they can soak up the sunlight, but you want to check how much because some plants don't need a lot and it can be harmful.
Now you will need to repeat this process until your plants have fully ripened. The time it takes for a plant to fully ripen depends on what type of plant you're planning to harvest.
Then once they're fully ripened, you can harvest your plants. This step can be picking off berries, taking things out of the ground, or more.
If you liked growing these plants then you could take the seeds from your newly grown plants and replant them to start the cycle again.
I chose this image because of tip 7.
Keep your plants out of rain, because the rain can overwater your plants and kill them. As they say, you can have too much of something good before it becomes a problem.
Don't overwater your soil either. If you overwater your soil, the roots can get harmed or they could even die.
A way you can tell if your plant is wilting is to look at the leaves. If your plant has brown leaves, it could die soon.
Hydroponic gardens can be used inside, but they tend to be pretty expensive.
Keep your plants in the sunlight, but not for too long, because they might die from too much light. Once again, you can have too much of something good before it becomes a problem.
If you're growing a fruit plant, pay attention to their color, because some types of fruit plants will change the colors of their fruit as they ripen. Examples of fruits with this trait are tomatoes, bananas and strawberries.
If your can, donate your harvests to a local food pantry. If you're not sure on where to go, check out the Find a Garden/Pantry page, as that has a listing of some nearby food pantries.