The Indoor Growing & Seed-Starting Kit

Start here: grow without a garden

A windowsill, a shelf, and a jar are enough to grow food — no plot, no waiting for spring. Indoor growing comes in three kinds: quick crops you eat whole (sprouts and microgreens), plants you keep going on a sill (herbs and salad), and seedlings you start warm indoors to plant out later. This kit covers all three.

Sprouts: Seeds germinated in a jar and eaten whole in 3–5 days. No soil, no light, no windowsill — just rinsing.
Microgreens: Seeds grown thick in a shallow tray and cut young at the first leaves, in 1–2 weeks. A bright sill is enough.
Windowsill herbs & greens: Basil, parsley, chives, salad leaves, chillies — cropped a little at a time for months from a pot.
Seed starts: Tomatoes, brassicas and more, begun warm indoors weeks before it’s mild enough to sow outside.

The one thing that kills windowsill plants

It’s almost never too little water — it’s too little light. A windowsill is far darker than open sky, and plants straining toward a distant window go pale, thin and floppy (“leggy”). Give the brightest window you have, turn pots regularly, and in a dark winter add a simple grow light. Match the plant to the light you actually have.

The four things every indoor plant needs

Light — the brightest window, or a grow light
Warmth — most seeds want 18–24°C to germinate
Air — gentle movement stops mould and damping off
Water — moist, never waterlogged; water from below

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The Indoor Growing & Seed-Starting Kit

Sprouts & microgreens in a week

The fastest food you’ll ever grow. No garden, barely any kit, and a harvest inside a week.

Sprouts (jar method)

Rinse & soak: Put 1–2 tbsp of sprouting seed in a clean jar, cover with cool water, and soak 6–8 hours (overnight is easiest).
Drain & angle: Cover the mouth with mesh or a cloth. Drain fully, then stand the jar upside-down at an angle so it keeps draining and air can reach the seeds.
Rinse twice a day: Fresh cool water morning and night, draining fully each time. Standing water — not dryness — is what spoils a batch.
Harvest in 3–5 days: When the little shoots and leaves show, give a final rinse, drain really well, and store in the fridge.

Microgreens (tray method)

Sow thick on shallow soil: Scatter seed densely over 2–3 cm of moist compost in a shallow tray. Press it in; don’t bury it.
Cover to germinate: A second tray on top for 2–3 days keeps them dark and moist until they sprout.
Uncover to the light: Move to your brightest sill. Keep just moist — mist the top, or water from below.
Cut at the first leaves: Snip above the soil with scissors in 1–2 weeks. They don’t regrow, so resow for the next batch.

Sprout safely

Warm, damp seeds can grow bacteria as well as sprouts. Use seed sold for sprouting, clean jars and hands, rinse twice a day, and make sure they drain and breathe. Throw out any batch that smells off, turns slimy, or shows mould — never rinse it and hope. Anyone pregnant, very young, elderly, or with a weakened immune system should cook sprouts rather than eat them raw. (Microgreens, cut above the soil, are lower-risk.)

Crop	Type	Ready	Good for
Alfalfa	Sprout	4–5 days	Mild, good in salads & sandwiches
Mung bean	Sprout	3–4 days	Crunchy — stir-fries
Radish	Sprout / micro	4–6 days	A peppery kick
Pea shoots	Microgreen	1–2 weeks	Sweet and crunchy
Sunflower	Microgreen	1–2 weeks	Nutty and hearty
Broccoli	Microgreen	1–2 weeks	Mild and nutritious

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The Indoor Growing & Seed-Starting Kit

A windowsill you can grow on

Keep herbs and salad going for months. Match the plant to the light you have — that one choice decides everything.

Find your brightest window: A south-facing sill (north of the equator) gives the most light; east or west will do for herbs and leaves; a north sill is too dark for most food. Aim for 6+ hours a day.
Add light in winter: Short, dark days leave plants pale and leggy. A small LED grow light 20–30 cm above them, on 12–14 hours a day, changes what’s possible off-season.
Water from below: Stand pots in a saucer, let them drink for 20 minutes, then tip away what’s left. Let the top dry slightly between waterings — soggy roots rot.
Feed lightly: Fresh potting compost feeds for about six weeks. After that, a half-strength liquid feed every couple of weeks keeps croppers going.
Turn & pick often: Quarter-turn pots every few days so they grow straight, and harvest little and often — picking makes herbs bushier.

Good windowsill crops

Crop	Light	Notes
Chives	Med–bright	Cut-and-come-again; very forgiving
Parsley	Bright	Slow from seed — buy a plug to start
Basil	Bright + warm	Hates cold sills; pinch the tips
Mint	Medium	Vigorous — give it its own pot
Salad leaves	Bright	Sow little and often; cut young
Chillies	Brightest + warm	Need the most light — sunny sill or grow light

Fruiting crops like tomatoes and peppers need far more light than a sill gives — they’ll grow, but crop poorly without a grow light, a conservatory, or a really bright spot.

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The Indoor Growing & Seed-Starting Kit

Start seeds indoors

Starting seeds warm indoors gives tender crops a head start — so they’re strong young plants, ready to go out the moment the frost has passed.

Count back from your last frost: Most seeds go in 6–8 weeks before your area’s average last frost. Look yours up once, write it on the schedule overleaf, and count everything back from it.
Use clean pots & seed compost: Modules, small pots, or clean yoghurt tubs with drainage holes. Fine seed compost (not garden soil) drains right and carries no weed seeds or disease.
Sow at the right depth: A rule of thumb: cover a seed to about twice its own depth. Tiny seeds barely at all — press them onto the surface and firm gently.
Warmth first, then light: Seeds need warmth to germinate, not light — 18–24°C, even the top of the fridge. The moment they sprout, move them to the brightest spot you have, or they go leggy within days.
Pot on when crowded: When the first true leaves show and roots fill the module, move each seedling to a bigger pot. Hold it by a leaf, never the fragile stem.
Harden off before planting out: For a week or two before they go outside, put plants out by day and back in at night, a little longer each time, so wind and cold don’t check them.

Get these right

Bright light the moment they sprout.
Water from below to avoid rot.
Keep the air gently moving.
Label every tray with crop + date.

Common mistakes

Sowing too early — leggy, root-bound plants stuck on a cold sill.
Too warm and wet → “damping off”, where seedlings keel over.
Planting out before the frosts are truly done.
Skipping hardening off.

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The Indoor Growing & Seed-Starting Kit

Your sowing schedule

Write your last frost date at the top, then use each crop’s “weeks before” to work out when to sow. Fill the blank rows with your own.

My average last frost date:

Crop	Start indoors	Transplant out	Notes
Tomatoes	6–8 wks before	1–2 wks after frost	Warmth + strong light
Peppers & chillies	8–10 wks before	After frost, warm spot	Slowest to get going
Brassicas (kale, cabbage)	4–6 wks before	Around last frost	Tolerate cool
Lettuce & salad	3–4 wks before	Around last frost	Can also sow direct
Onions from seed	8–10 wks before	Around last frost	Start early
Basil	6 wks before	2 wks after frost	Hates any cold
Courgette & squash	2–3 wks before	After frost	Fast — don’t start too early
Cucumber	3–4 wks before	After frost, warm	Fast and tender

“Weeks before” means weeks before your last frost. Not sure of your frost date? Your local extension office or garden centre will know it for your area.

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The Indoor Growing & Seed-Starting Kit

Indoor grow log

Note what you sowed and how it did — next year’s timing lives on this page.

Seed-starting log

Crop / variety	Sown	Germinated	Potted on	Planted out	Notes

Sprout & microgreen rotation

Crop	Started	Ready	How it went

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