Carole Kern is an avid gardener who loves growing her own food.

During a warm Iowa summer, it’s not too hard to grow vibrant vegetables or gather them from the farmers’ market and New Pioneer Co-op, but a Midwest winter is a different thing altogether. It wasn’t until recently that Kern, assistant to the executive associate dean for faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, expanded her gardening skills and took the leap to growing food indoors. 

“A few years ago, a presumptuous mouse stashed away a bean seed in the potting soil of my parsley plant,” says Kern, who has worked at the UI for 15 years. “Since the bean had already germinated and there was room in the pot, I simply staked it up.” 

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As Kern’s garden outside starts to flag with the turning of the season, her garden inside expands. Vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, and root crops have slowly replaced her non-edible houseplants. 

“The indoors crops vary greatly,” Kern says. “At the moment, I have several varieties of lettuce, spinach, eggplant, tomato, chard, broccoli, onion, peas, radishes, and carrots for vegetables.” 

And though her indoor garden doesn’t quite supply all her produce needs, the joy of watching the plants germinate and mature is ample reward—even if some do better than others. Of course, it isn’t a race.

“The strawberries and turmeric aren’t very happy with the cold room, though oddly the eggplant and lemon are doing very well,” Kern says.

And what ever happened to that mouse-planted bean stalk?

“Happy in a sunny southern window, it vined up the stake nicely, provided amusing flowers and produced a couple bean pods a week throughout that winter,” Kern says. “Though I’d always had a few indoor edible plants, since that winter my indoor garden has taken off.”

So, what do you do if you want to start an indoor garden? You’ll have to do some experimenting on your own, and that’s part of the fun. Kern has a few tips as well.

• Never underestimate the tenacity of a mouse, nor the longing of a gardener/cook.
• A light breeze is good for plants and people. 
• A greenhouse is not as important as well-drained soil and good lighting. 
• Be bold: Try new plants as there is little to lose and much to be enjoyed.