Some Herb Bowls

[Fagiolino]

Do you mean led grow lights?

 

[Beverly]

@Fagiolino I think you will not have much problem growing plants indoors during your winters because you have a mild climate and more daylight hours than @CanadianLori who is so much farther north. It doesn't freeze during Roman winters, does it? Maybe the temps drop to 8 or 9 degrees Celcius? You can mulch the indoor plants to help keep the daytime warmth in.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/basil/basil-cold-tolerance.htm

 

[alp]

I think Italy is more clement than Canada!

 

[Fagiolino]

the temps drop to 8 or 9 degrees Celcius?

Yes, exactly
Honestly I tried to grow a Chinese mandarin bonsai indoor and it seemed in trouble with the home environment but you know, bonsai aren't easy trees to take care and I'm not good at gardening
Anyway, like @alp said, Italy is more clement than Canada and I also have to say I've made a great purchase, by installing double-glazed windows. They work so well that I didn't need to use the heating over the last two months. I don't know if the plants get enough light in my kitchen but I can definitely try. So I'll have a go

 

[Beverly]

Don't be discouraged by a failed bonsai @Fagiolino, this requires a special set of skills. If you love to grow plants, they will want to grow for you. Even people experienced in gardening have failures. Gardeners experiment, they find out what works for them.

 

[alp]

Yes, exactly
Honestly I tried to grow a Chinese mandarin bonsai indoor and it seemed in trouble with the home environment but you know, bonsai aren't easy trees to take care and I'm not good at gardening
Anyway, like @alp said, Italy is more clement than Canada and I also have to say I've made a great purchase, by installing double-glazed windows. They work so well that I didn't need to use the heating over the last two months. I don't know if the plants get enough light in my kitchen but I can definitely try. So I'll have a go

If you still have a bit of sun, try solar lights or LED grow light. @MoonShadow has just received one. It' shouldn't be expensive. Light and heat and good compost are the major ingredients. Try spring onions, mizuna or mustard leaves as they are very easy to grow and satisfaction is more or less guaranteed.

Remember, as MoonShadow points out, you don't need to have the full stretch of light at night. You could just give it 3 or 5 hours.. or even crunch up some foil paper to add light and a polystyrene panel at the bottom of your trays to raise the temperature for your plants.

 

[CanadianLori]

Do you mean led grow lights?

Yes, I use LED's to lengthen the day. Where I am in Canada is actually a lower latitude than England so our days don't shorten quite as much but we do spend several months with less than 12 hours of daylight. We are much colder here because we do not have that lovely Gulf Stream to bring heat.

We are at -9C at the moment and forecast to go up to -6C. So growing inside is about my only option.

 

[Fagiolino]

If you still have a bit of sun, try solar lights or LED grow light. @MoonShadow has just received one. It' shouldn't be expensive. Light and heat and good compost are the major ingredients. Try spring onions, mizuna or mustard leaves as they are very easy to grow and satisfaction is more or less guaranteed.

Thank you very much @alp First of all I need to understand if my interest for gardening is real, if it's a passion. Then I will decide what to do. Considering I live in Italy, as you mentioned, I could definitely grow some plants without experiencing particularly problems, and I can definitely wait for 2-3 months. Even if, I will look at a led grow light in a one dollar shop, just to have an idea

 

[CanadianLori]

@Fagiolino if you get the gardening virus, you will spend money, but wisely. And you can spend many hours in the cooler days planning your garden and visiting here to get great information before the outdoor growing season starts.

Even in freezing Canada and the northern U.S. states we figure out how to keep our thumbs green

 

[Rey]

@Fagiolino if you get the gardening virus, you will spend money, but wisely. And you can spend many hours in the cooler days planning your garden and visiting here to get great information before the outdoor growing season starts.

Even in freezing Canada and the northern U.S. states we figure out how to keep our thumbs green

LOL you got that right. I contracted the virus last April and its getting worse.

Anyway, I measured PAR using quantum meter on a regular 60watt equivalent x 3 versus the real grow light and our eyes perception of brightness(Lumens) is totally different than plants photon requirements.

Kitchen LED white light total elec draw of about 48watts at around 2100Lumens. At a distance of 12”, plants probably will be elongated. The rest are various grow lights and their reading. There is also a pic if how much “moles” is needed to obtain minimum to high and you can cross reference it with the kind of plants you have. I use a sedum plant as a base.

 

[alp]

I like this forum.. I think we have all sorts of professors here! I can only scratch my head. I won't bother to understand! Ah, aw, wot, har!

 

[CanadianLori]

Well, I have plants growing under led grow lights that only use 40 watts of power each. The lights re no more than 8-10" above the plants. They seem to be very happy plants too and have really dark green leaves. I don't use the white lights other than for one old hps - and that is actually more yellow looking to me. Electricity here is very expensive so that is why I switched to LED's - give one a try and see what happens.

 

[alp]

Lori: LED is definitely cheaper and is a cheaper substitute. I was told that fluorescent tube is good as well. Hope someone else can fill you in on this. You can also use @Logan's method ie. crushed tin foil. She's very good with this and I have seen very good result. Hope she can fill you in this. You could also use a polystyrene box to house the plants .. Well, that's why I did until I saw all the roots go through the polystyrene board. Bad news if you have to tease them out!

 

[Tjohn]

Thank-you Rey...that is a GREAT chart you made! You answered a few questions I have always had about artificial lights for extending the growing season.

 

[CanadianLori]

Lori: LED is definitely cheaper and is a cheaper substitute. I was told that fluorescent tube is good as well. Hope someone else can fill you in on this. You can also use @Logan's method ie. crushed tin foil. She's very good with this and I have seen very good result. Hope she can fill you in this. You could also use a polystyrene box to house the plants .. Well, that's why I did until I saw all the roots go through the polystyrene board. Bad news if you have to tease them out!

I stupidly forgot to mention that I have a pretty nice indoor set up ... let me see if I can find a pic from when I first set it up..and before I switched to LED lights - which I might add, the grow ones are pretty, not like the old compact fluorescent ones I rigged up at the beginning. I have two of these indoor units which are 4 x 4 x 8 ft tall.

I have since also added capillary matting and fans. I start my seedlings for hot peppers, onions etc in there before Christmas.