In this book, I’ve covered many options that have worked for me in terms of indoor gardening, but ultimately, it will be up to you to play around with your own mix of edible projects. Maybe you’ll grow carrot microgreens instead of carrots, or you’ll focus only on lettuces because you and your pet rabbit both appreciate a just-harvested plate of greens. See every success as an opportunity to open the door just a little bit more, and understand the power of setbacks.
Sometimes—more often than I’d like, certainly—I’ll embark on a plan that doesn’t work, and I’m back to feeling humbled. But I just jot down the results of my experiments and move on to other options. Will the ‘White Beauty’ radish be different? Could I pull off a watermelon radish even though it’s so much larger than what I’ve planted in the past? These are the kinds of questions that leave me looking dreamy and distracted when I’m standing in line at the greenhouse, buying more coconut coir or fish fertilizer solution.
I’ve come to appreciate those daydream moments, because it means that I’m still curious and still open to the adventure. In gardening, and especially in indoor gardening with its tricky nuances, it can be easy to feel defeated sometimes. Despite all my cheerleading throughout this book, I’ve experienced plenty of frustration when I see mold, aphids, or crumpled leaves. The toughest moments are those when I look at a pot of soil mix and know that there’s supposed to be a sweet little sprout poking up through vermiculite, and instead I have nothing.
But I comfort myself with the realization that this is all a work-in-progress, and that adaptability and flexibility are attributes to inform not only my gardening, but also my outlook on practically everything. When I think that way, I see my little indoor garden as a symbol of all that I want to cultivate in my life: nourishment, care, awareness, and joy.
Revel in that burst of pride that comes with seeing a plant begin to sprout up from the soil, and appreciate that feeling as it carries through all the way to the moment you serve it as part of a meal. In so many ways, gardening nourishes us, it not only creates a connection between ourselves and our food, but also to our communities and our planet.