MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) Giving your plants a head start indoors can make a big difference when you move them outside for the growing season.

If you cant wait to plant a summers worth of tasty and nutritious vegetables, maybe you dont have to. With the right equipment and attention, you can maintain a successful indoor grow room.

If youre looking to get your garden started early and doing it from inside your home, all you need to do is invest in some timers and lighting, and it doesnt have to be that expensive, Angies List founder Angie Hicks says.

Good lighting is critical. In her basement growing space, master gardener Sue Arnold uses inexpensive fluorescent lights in the warm and cool range available at big box stores.

They need to be 12 hours a day. People think, Well in my garden eight hours of sun is enough for a tomato, but indoors you need 12 hours a day. And you need a timer, thats very important, Arnold says.

Like Arnold, Derik Strenzel created his growing system for very little money by using re-purposed materials. He spends about 30 minutes a day tending to 300 varieties of vegetables, and chills out even longer.

We spend three or four hours a day in this room just hanging out, relaxing, he says. All of the animals naturally come in here, all of the time. If were home and they want to hang out somewhere thats not around us, I guarantee you theyre in here.

When the time comes to transplant outdoors, do it slowly.

Plants need to be introduced not only to the light, but to the wind, some gentle breezes would be nice. So put them in the shade for a while, deep shade, light shade, then increase the sun, Arnold says.

Angie says online is a great place to buy seeds. Variety packs of 25 different veggies start as low as $5.

See the article here:
Angie's List: Growing plants indoors for outdoor success - 41 NBC News

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September 2, 2017 at 10:41 am by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Outdoor Lighting