I got interested in indoor gardening in lite of the fact that I moved into a 7 story multi-apartment complex of 145 apartments and not able to have an outdoor garden. I converted my bedroom for my indoor garden. Before you ask me where I sleep, I sleep on a lazy boy recliner in the living room. A lot of research went into having an indoor garden. Move things around in your bedroom so you'll have space. Purchase 5 gallon plastic buckets from home depot. Drill a few holes at the bottom for proper drainage.
Soil and the right soil is a key player for your indoor garden. Having the ideal soil in your containers means that you can practically grow any veggie you want using your bucket. This is the type that you need. It is miracle grow compost soil. I purchased many bags of it at home depot. I have 15 buckets, and some plastic two gallon containers. The advantage of the soil that I just mentioned is its proper PH qualities within it. Also, unlike other soils, this type does not clump. The compost drains so your roots of your crops do stay in totally wet soil. This soil allows for overwatering and underwatering.
This is what you do for drainage. Locate a dollar store, and purchase the largest disposable aluminum baking pan. Place each bucket with soil into the container. Also, cut two pieces of wood about 4 inches long and and inch or two high. Place these inside your aluminum pan and then place your bucket on the two wooden pieces. The will allow the water to properly drain into the pan and not on your carpet or flooring.
To start seeds, you don't need to spend money on seed starting kits. At the dollar store, buy a plastic sleeve of 8 ounce styrofoam cups. Put a few holes at the bottom of each cup for drainage, then add some compost and any veggie seed of your choosing. You can use a permanent marker to write what you have in each cup. If you purchased starting kits you could not write on them, and you could not reuse them. I've started tomatoes and cucumber seeds in syrofoam cups, and the grew nicely. When I felt they were strong enough, they then got transplanted into one of my buckets.
Cherry tomatoes do very well in containers.
You want light bulbs that imitate the sun as much as possible. The proper bulb is one that produces 870 lumens of light, yet uses only a few watts of electricity.
Home depot has these. They are manufactured by GE. The box says Energy Smart, Mini Spiral. The bulb uses only 13 watts of electricity. Tomatoes and cukes like these. You can purchase a box of 6 bulbs and they are not too expensive either.
