Many people who plant small outdoor gardens try to get a head start on the growing season by planting seeds indoors and transplanting them to the outdoors once the planting season has arrived. With the right indoor gardening supplies, nearly everything that will end up in the outdoor garden can be started indoors. While some plants that produce their harvest under ground, such as potatoes and carrots, are safe to plant directly in the garden, above ground plants like tomatoes and peppers can be killed by frost if planted too early.

Many stores sell what they call indoor starter kits, usually consisting of small pots in a plastic tray with a clear plastic lid. These work as a small greenhouse providing the humid conditions in which plants grow best but there are more indoor gardening supplies that will be needed to help insure strong healthy plants. The directions on these types of indoor gardening supplies indicate that it should be placed in the sun for a few hours a day, but not everyone has a window for that and others may only have room in their basement for their initial growing efforts.

Some of the indoor gardening supplies that can help start the garden include grow lights, fans and temperature control. It will also require some attention to the plants to meet the needs for water and attention.

There Is No Substitute For Natural Lighting

Many of the garden vegetable plants rely on natural sunlight for growth and production. However, in order to get a start on plant growth as early as possible, many of the seeds and indoor gardening supplies needed are too young to tell the difference between natural and artificial lighting. One of the common misconceptions is that lights used for growing have to be a specific color or size, but in reality, the two qualities of the lights that matter to the young plants are lumens and time.

Whether using traditional or organic gardening supplies, the seeds will need warmth and moisture in order to germinate and once the first root pops out of the seed and begins to show through the top of the dirt, light will become an important factor in its life. Available through many outlets for indoor gardening supplies lights of at least 2,000 lumens and a timer to turn them on automatically for set number of hours every day, will help get the plants mature enough to go out into the real world of the garden.