18 Sep The Great Indoors!
The summer is a great time to enjoy our gardens but on the run up to Christmas we’ll be spending more time away from them indoors. Not to worry! This week we’re sharing our top tips on growing your own food indoors so you don’t have to put your green fingers away just yet!
Why grow your own vegetables in the first place, what are the benefits? Here’s our top three reasons for growing your own.
- Freshness- shop bought fruit and veg has often travelled thousands of miles to reach your plate and this often means that when it leaves its country of origin it is not fully ripe so it doesn’t spoil on its journey. This means you’re not getting the produce at its best whereas when you grow your own you can’t get fresher as as soon as it’s ready you can start prepping it for a tasty meal!
- No nasties- the produce you grow will not only be fresh but you will also have peace of mind knowing that nothing bad has been added to it. When you grow and consume your own you’re not having something that’s mass produced and you are involved in every step of the process so you know no nasty pesticides have been added!
- Great for kids- if you have children, growing your own produce is not only a great way to keep them occupied but can also encourage healthy habits. They’re less likely to reject their greens if they’re excited about them because they helped grow them! It’s healthy for the whole family as if you grow your own you’ll no doubt grow seasonal produce which will provide you with all the vitamins you need for that season.
So the benefits are clear but where do you get started? We recommend getting started with chillies and tomatoes to begin with and here are our tips for each.
Chillies
Brings some heat indoors and to your plate by growing chillies in the colder months, here’s our top tips for doing so.
- You can start chillies from a seed, if you have them growing outdoors you can move them into a pot inside or you can often buy chilli plants with a few chillies on them already!
- They will need around 10 hours of light each day so make sure they’re on a windowsill on a side of the house that gets a lot of sun.
- Don’t over water them, instead let them dry out in between watering.
Tomatoes
Next up is tomatoes.
- Take advantage of the good weather we’re having at the moment and start your tomatoes plant outside. The seeds should germinate quite quickly and when the seedlings are up to 4inches tall they’re ready to be transferred to a pot indoors.
- Like the chillies, the tomato plant will also need 10 hours of light so consider this when deciding where to put the pot indoors.
- To aid growth you can use a water soluble organic fertilizer.
Once you have your chilli and tomato crop you could make a warming soup or a hot curry, the perfect comfort food for the warmer months!
If you would like to learn more dishes which combine chilli and tomato or other produce that you grow then get in touch. We can create private cooking lessons for you based on exactly what you’d like to learn.
You can contact us by emailing info@chefscompliments.co.uk or call 0208 226 37 59.
