Building and using an indoor greenhouse

This year I have decided to try my hand at having an indoor greenhouse; now this doesn't mean that I am building one in my backyard or anything crazy like that. Instead I am taking over a closet my house and converting it over into an indoor greenhouse. I am starting small and hoping to maybe one day go big. The reason I have decided to try my hand at building a mini greenhouse is because I think I can long term be able to grow some simple vegetables (tomatoes and peppers) and always be able to grow my plants for my garden from seeds instead of having to buy the plants from places like Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot,....etc
In order to build a greenhouse like this all you will need is metal or plastic shelves, greenhouse "growing" lights, and a timer (if you don't want to be in charge of always turning on and off the lights everyday). You should be able to get all of these products for less than a hundred dollars at any warehouse or super center store. I would also recommend getting some cheap plastic pots and something to put underneath the pots so when you water then the water does spill onto your floor.I personally bought the cheap aluminum throwaway pans used for cooking and put the my pots in them.
After you assemble your shelving you will need to attach the growing lights on the underside of each shelve excluding the very first shelf of course because it will just have plants on it and nothing below it. I then plugged in all of my greenhouse/growing lights into a surge strip and plugged that into my timer. I would personally recommend you have you timer set to on for 18 hours on and off for 6 hours a day.

This year I am growing to try and grow habernos, tomatoes, and a lemon tree. Below is what my indoor greenhouse looks like:

On a side note:
If you are thinking about building a garden next spring, try and start buying all the material you will need for in the late summer and early fall. The reason for this is because you will be able to buy the material while its on sale and the companies are trying to get rid of the materials and ready for the holiday season.

Fall Gardening

Now is the time of year that we start thinking about fall gardening and what we can grow in a fall garden. I will be the first to admit that this the first year, I have tried to fall garden so I will be learning right there beside everyone else. I have always been told you need to grow fast growing plants and ones that are more suitable for cool weather too.

For my first time growing a fall garden, I am sticking more with the basics like green beans, turnips and radishes. I planted these plants because they have some of the fastest seed to produce times of any plants. You can also grown broccoli, cauliflower, and others. I planted my seeds/plants around the middle to late August and so far I am seeing the plants acting healthy and growing very well. The green beans are veining out wonderfully, the radishes and turnips are starting to produce bulbs (hoping for a bunch of turnip bulbs, they are one of favorites). You will want all of your plants to be producing vegetables by the end of September at the latest (depending on where you live in the nation or world).

You will not want to try to plant anything that is picky about the temperatures otherwise the plant will more than likely not make it during the fall season. Another good rule of the thumb is don't buy "baby" plants is because it will become incredibly difficult to make your money back on these plants. I would recommend planting your seeds into the garden and letting them grow naturally in your garden.

My useful tip of the week
If you are wanting to build a garden box next spring now is the time to buy all the products needed especially timber like landscape timbers. For example landscape timbers are normally around 4 to 5 dollars however because its the end of the season you can get them for a dollar a piece at certain stores. I bought 35 landscape timbers for 35 dollars which is a savings of over 100 dollars.

Side notes
I am starting to get an indoor greenhouse working inside of my house. I will keep you updated on how it goes.