Dill is one of those herbs I plant outdoors because it's so versatile and beatiful, and I grow it indoors because I'm addicted to its flavor and I need it year-round! Use fresh dill on vegetables and dishes, or add to pickles and preserves. When left to flower in the garden, plants make beautiful edible ornamentals that attract many beneficial insects.

You can easily grow dill in containers. Pests are not common on dill, especially indoors, other than occasional aphids. Outdoors, several types of caterpillars feed on dill foliage. Grow in a cool spot with LEDs, HOT5 Fluorescents, or CFLs.

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Scout regularly for signs of insects and disease. Treat or remove infested or infected plants immediately. Aphids are a common pest in cooler, damp conditions, so become familiar with ideal insect situations to ward off infestations.

If you are growing edible crops, be thoughtful about the treatments and chemicals you use. Avoid any systemic insecticide or fungicide on edible plants. Systemic products are absorbed into the internal plant tissues and may persist for long periods to provide ongoing insect- or disease-killing effects.

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Certain fluorescents even provide narrow spectrums of light—focused in the upper red, blue, pink, and even green spectrums—plus UV radiation. These narrow-spectrum fluorescents allow you to easily trigger or maintain specific growth and development phases.

I mix different color spectrums with different lamps in this large T5 fixture, depending on which plants I’m growing.

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Want to grow strawberries indoors or in containers? Strawberries are great for small spaces and containers, and they grow 8 to 10 inches tall and 12 inches wide. A 6-inch pot per plant is adequate, or you can group plants in larger containers, hanging baskets, or grow towers or bags.

Make sure to give strawberries even, consistent moisture that drains quickly - fabric pots help. Do not overwater, especially in cooler temperatures, as crowns can rot quickly.

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Many orchids are day-neutral- meaning they do not require a specific photoperiod (hours of light/dark), to produce flowers. They instead flower in response to cooling temperatures in fall and winter.

Some orchid types, such as Zygopetalum spp, may not require short days to bloom, but can flower faster and better when grown under short days combined with cool temperatures. That makes them facultative short-day plants.

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Fluorescent fixtures are relatively small, and you can mount them to all sorts of structures. If you have only a small space on the kitchen counter under the cabinets, you can mount an individual fluorescent fixture for one HO T5 tube right there.

This is a perfect spot for a few leafy kitchen herbs, such as basil or chives.

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If you are looking for a fast, easy way to create a dedicated growing space in your home, basement, or garage, a grow tent is a good solution. Grow tents create a microenvironment in which you have much more control than you would have in, say, an open office or a basement space.

Some retailers offer bundles or kits that provide all the basic gear. Grow tents are constructed with spaces for you to connect ducts to pull in fresh outside air and ventilate the heat. Some newer grow tents come with built-in fans, thermostats, and other gadgets that help you keep tight control over the growing environment.

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To measure light for growing accurately, buy a calibrated PAR quantum flux meter, which is a light sensor connected to a light meter. Botanists and horticulturalists use these tools, which measure the spectral region between 400 and 700 nm, to obtain the incident PPF your lamp delivers each second.

Newer meters are specially calibrated for the wider nanometer range commonly emitted by LEDs. Good quantum meters are not cheap, but if you’re interested in high yields they are an excellent investment.

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