I have patio envy, I admit it. No garden or pstio, and I hate it.

I have a small roof area, but it wound be awkward. I was wondering if I could buy a cheap "greenhouse" and grow certisn veggies inside??
Can this be done? I have 2 very sunny windows.

I start seeds indoors each season. We don't have enough sun for veggies in our yard, and we have rabbits, groundhogs and deer.

But I do lots of flower seeds indoors.

The main problem with veggies and plants is temperature IMO.

Starting them as you mention the windows is possible but eventually they get "leggy" (stretched out, weak stems etc) if they are not subjected to the temperature changes of night time cooler than daytime (this hardens the stems for strength). I move my seedlings outside when they have 2 mature leaves developed, and grow them up in larger containers until they are ready to put in the ground. Usually I move them up twice before they go into the ground or larger planters. Park Seed has a nice book they publish on how to do it. I like them very much.

This seed supplier and catalog used to have small articles about container growing, indoor growing etc. For people with little outdoor space. They would highlight books etc. in the catalog so you could buy them if interested.
https://botanicalinterests.com/

Park Seed has some indoor gardening supplies with lights too.
I have tabletop growing lights (I bought them many years ago), which I use for the seeds. A couple of years ago there was a company selling a tabletop growing system for tomatoes and lettuce and herbs...but I don't recall their name right now. They were advertising on TV. Let's see...I will search........

Here it is their growing system featured on this site:
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-tech...gardening.html

You know with enough light and temperature control, and perhaps some hydroponic techniques, you could do some veggies or herbs. Many require cool temps at night however. Today the techniques are quite successful for controlling fungus mold for example. People grow marijuana in basements!

I grow mainly perennials when doing my seeds, which gives me a huge $$ savings because I need many plants and they are expensive now. I also find unusual seeds and harvest my own plants for seeds to grow next season. I take the small plants upNorth with us and plant in containers I have on the shore.

There can be "failures" with this task however. You need to expect some, learn from them, and try again in order to succeed.
There are nice seed starting mediums out there-- I use Miracle Grow starter now. And the new hydroponic growing indoors, has no soil at all. This gets rid of pesky fungi that attack plants.

It is a nice satisfying hobby though. Gives me much pleasure to see things grow from a tiny seed into a useful plant!

Hi Qwerky,
Welcome to the forums.

You could probably assemble one of those vertical gardens that are all the rage here at the moment where I live. They can be used both outdoors and indoors apparently. If you just type in vertical gardens indoors in google images, you'll get lots of amazing ideas and could probably adapt a small one into one of your window areas. Some of them are called living walls.

mrsD, I just love that Botanical Interests site. Thanks for that!

Glad you liked it, Lara. I grow our cat grass from their seeds.
A nursery near us has their seeds each spring, and often on sale/

I bought blue fescue ornamental grass and the cat grass this year.

Their catalog is really nice... and it is free. Fun to look thru and get ideas from too.

Yes, there are different ways to go. The links will be image links to give you some ideas of what's available/possible.

One that combines what you're asking about is referred to as a greenhouse window that comes in a variety of configurations.

Another way is home hydroponics.

Vertical vegetable gardens is another, but like hydroponics, will likely require additional lighting.

Whichever way you want to go, choosing the right seeds/varieties is as important as the growth environment. Some verieties have been specially developed to grow/produce in these space-efficient gardens—regular outdoor seeds/varieties won't do well. Once you get going, however (if you're so inclined) you can develop your own hybrids/varieties.

Doc

I thank you so much! I may lean towards the vertical thing if I can drill deep enough to hold it up. I'm also thinking about the container thing. I doubt I could get additional lighting, but I have a small furnace room with a brand new window, but only indirect light. It's bright however, as the building next door reflects a lot of sun. I don't want anything fancy; I might be able to grow the tomato sand a pepper plant on the roof area (as the previous tenant did). But with a cat, I'm leaning towards vertical growing. I'd love to grow herbs, esp rosemary and thyme. I wonder of they can grow in pots I could hang, like indoor plants? I might do spring mix in a container in the furnace room, to keep the cat And my on/off boyfriends dogs away lol. Woukd indirect light work?

Much appreciate the help!!

It's difficult for me to tell just how much light you have there.

Lots of herbs and vegetables grown outside need full sun for part of the day, but some will grow outside in shady places or part sun/part shade, depending on seasons and time of day etc..

Think about how they grow outside. Plants need light to survive. If you think the indirect light is sufficient then you could try just a few plants and see how they go.

good luck with it

I just read somewhere people are being targeted for growing plants inside? So think ill stick with tomatoes on the roof n burpees version of kitchen herbs on top the fridge. Good grief. I just wanna eat healthier, and the community garden my way shut down.

Where on Earth are they targeting people for growing indoor plants?

If they targeted everyone who is growing indoor plants in case they had something illegal growing in there then there wouldn't be enough law enforcement to go around.

I believe that the way law enforcement targets indoor growing for marijuana production is to have a screen done by the electric companies, to tag very high use. And I mean VERY HIGH usage per month. Normal indoor gardening does not come close to the electrical usage that illegal production of volumes of MJ does.

Fluorescent lighting is very low use unless you have a huge installation of it as in a commercial MJ supply set up.