Kitchen counter growing?

[ellairiesmom]

Our new place has tons of kitchen counter space but very little natural light anywhere, especially in the kitchen.  DH is asking for some gift ideas for me so it got me thinking about some options...but I don't know much about it...right now I have some organic potted herbs that Shoprite had on sale & we are loving having them but they are struggling for light.  My 1st step is to put a glass shelf up in front of my one kitchen window to maximize that sun.  That would fit a few plants.  But with all this counter space...there has to be more I could do & grow.  

Are there simple grow lights that could be mounted under my cabinets so I could have more herbs & maybe a lettuce going on the countertops?  

Any other ideas/suggestions?  

[kitchensqueen]

T8 fluorescents are the best kind of light for growing veggies indoors. This article at Gardener's Supply Company explains how to choose the correct lighting. Their setups are really expensive, starting at $150, but you can do much better. On Amazon they have T8 bulbs for around $4.00 each. They've also got the actual housing for the bulbs at $15-20. So for $30.00 you can have a pretty nice set up. Depending upon the height of your upper cabinets you may want to get a couple of chains so you can raise or lower the lights as your plants grow.

You can definitely do more herbs and lettuces indoors. You can also do green onions, and in the spring you can start veggies and flowers if you have the space for them outdoors. 

[redbirdlady]

The few things that I put under lights inside, I rotate every 12 hours, so that I'm actually growing twice as much stuff.  (I just leave the lights on 24/7.)  Depending on how your refrigerator is configured, I've had good success with starting peppers and tomatoes up on top of the fridge with a light hanging over them (the heat helps!)

On all of the plants that I do with natural light, I make sure to back them with aluminum foil to maximize light.  (For instance, we have a 5-shelf metal shelf in front of a large window in our breakfast nook, and I just tape aluminum foil around the sides and the back.  When I need to tend to the plants, I slide the shelf back a bit, do some watering, etc., and then put it back in the window.)

The important thing is that you don't need a special grow light.  The only lights I use for indoor growing are normal fluorescents.