The Indoor Garden: Expert Gardeners Share Advice for Growing Food at Home

In their thirteenth book, experienced gardeners and authors Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau share their wisdom on growing veggies, herbs, fruits, and more indoors in our homes, bringing the greens inside and growing food all year.

Whether plagued by a short growing season or a lack of outdoor space, or inspired by a love of edible greens, there are a dozen reasons to bring the garden indoors. Plants outside their natural habitat need a totally different kind of tender love and care, though, and that's especially true of voracious sun-drinkers like veggies, fruits, and herbs. In their signature accessible question-and-answer style, Janet and Sheryl explain the differences between standard houseplants and edible plants and cover everything you need to know to have a thriving garden right inside your home.

After a strong foundational chapter in essentials like natural and artificial light, temperature, tools, and growing medium, you'll be fully equipped to learn about techniques like hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical growing, and grow tents. If you're daydreaming about what you can grow for the dinner table, dive into the nitty gritty of each type of gardening with chapters on microgreens, veggies and root veggies, herbs and spices, and fruits. After the harvest, learn about making more with less by growing from kitchen scraps. Of course, Janet and Sheryl also answer all your questions about what happens when things go wrong and help you tackle pests and mould, brighten up leggy plants and less-than-abundant harvests, and troubleshoot more complex growing systems. Full of valuable tips and tricks and heartening enthusiasm, The Indoor Garden is the perfect companion for first-time and experienced indoor gardeners alike.

Janet Melrose is the co-author of the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series. She is a garden educator and consultant, and an advocate for Calgary's Sustainable Local Food System. She is a life-long gardener and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate. She has a passion for Horticultural Therapy and facilitates numerous programs designed to integrate people marginalized by various disabilities into the larger community. She is a regular contributor to The Gardener for Canadian Climates magazine. She lives in Calgary where she runs her education and consulting company, Calgary's Cottage Gardener.

Sheryl Normandeau is the co-author of the Guides for the Prairie Gardener series and author of The Little Prairie Book of Berries. A life-long gardener, she holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Certificate and is a freelance writer specializing in gardening writing with hundreds of articles published. She is a regular contributor The Gardener for Canadian Climates, The Prairie Garden Annual, Herb Quarterly, and many more. She lives in Calgary.