I recently decided to grow basil because my hubby and I are pesto enthusiasts. It's growing really well with little care on my part, so I was encouraged to try and grow bell peppers on a friend's recommendation. I researched their care and read that peppers love water and sunshine. So I bought green peppers at the store and planted about 12 - 15 seeds last night. This morning, I decided to read up some more on bell peppers and found out that the ones in the store are hybrids and won't produce fruit.

So...does anyone have any experience with growing bell peppers from seeds obtained from grocery store peppers?

Also, are there any other veggies that can be grown indoors (I live in an apartment) that are relatively easy to maintain? I was thinking about (cherry) tomatoes...

I'd appreciate any and all advice. I'm new to the whole gardening thing, but I'd really like to eat my own veggies!

We have never grown peppers but I just wanted to say...O Heck-Yea on the basil...we grow it outside here just about all year long...we love basil!!

Good luck on growing indoors.

Thanks, EZ!!

I'm keeping the basil - it's growing BEE-yoo-tifully! I'm scrapping the seeds I sowed last night and going with the commercially available seeds at Home Depot or someplace. Just trying to take advantage of the warm NC weather.

Tomatoes are really easy to grow. They need lots of sun.

Thanks, Clydegirl! I guess I'll pick up tomato seeds while I'm there.

SUNNIGUMMI...if you take some fettucini ....add some chopped turkey bacon....chopped tomatoes...onions and garlic and that basil of yours...then toss with some olive oil...you will have my the favorite meal of my family!!!

Sounds delish! I take a few leaves, mince them and fold them into pizza dough that I make for a basil crust.

I also make pesto with 1 tbsp olive oil and use low sodium chicken broth to reach the consistency of pesto. FAR fewer calories and just as delicious! I use it as a pizza sauce with olives, feta cheese, onions, mushrooms and chicken if there's leftover. SO yum!

My parents always had a garden, and I've grown some vegetables myself (mostly container gardenings), but I've never heard of anyone having much success with using grocery store produce for seed (except onion).

I've always grown my veggies from packaged seed or bought small plants from a greenhouse or greenhouse section of Walmart, Lowe's, Farm & Fleet...

For anyone growing veggies for the first time - I'd recommend starting with small plants. It's easier and more fool-proof.

Also, where are you planning on keeping the plants? It's pretty late in the season to plant peppers (from seed, I've read that it takes about 10 weeks to produce peppers that are ready to pick. When I buy about 12" high, it still takes I'd guesstimate six to eight weeks for me to get pickable peppers). If you have a greenhouse, you may be able to plant off-season, but I'm not sure green peppers can be grown indoors otherwise, and the nights are going to be getting too cold, I would think. Are the North Carolina nights warm and frost-free into early December?


I only really know about Illinois and Wisconsin planting seasons, so I'd suggest going to any of the home & gardening stores in your area that sell garden seed and plants - and ask. They'll also be familiar not only with traditional gardening, but also container gardening and off-season gardening.

Yeah, it's pretty late to be planting tomato plants... All of mine are starting to slow down production wise. I would just wait until next year.

Look in a seed ctalogue for "patio" tomatoes. They are small. Also look for vertical gardening. You can grow a lot of veggies in a small space just by tilting the soil vertically in a kind of cage affair. Many roof top gardens in the city use small space planter gardening. look on youtube under "vertical gardening" to see examples of this. Tomatoes are perenials in very warm climates, they die in fall in the U.S. I am not sure about the south. If you have a green house of sorts you can have them longer. If they pass the first frost, you can usually get them to grow for a long time. All you need to do is cover them with a blanket or sheet. Herbs can last a long time in a window or greenhouse outside (by greenhouse I mean some kind of a glass or plastic cover, which can be anything)--

The fun part: Did you know you can garden in your car? Yes, the car is a great greenhouse. Start seedlings right on that shelf under the windows!

Thanks for the info everyone! I got into the gardening game a little late. I was waiting to see if my basil plant would survive my brown thumb before starting new plants.

As fas as NC weather goes, it rarely snows here and they had one ice storm last year for a day. It gets pretty cold. I used to visit in winter and it went down to 50 something at night. I was thinking of growing peppers indoors and then putting them out in early Spring. Same with tomatoes. I like the idea of questioning the gardening people. Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks again for all the input!

Hi! I hope I'm not to late to add to this. I'm new here, so if I'm butting into a thread or it's like DONE with, just let me know.

OK, as a gardener I can tell you this:
MOST vegetables from the grocery store can't be grown well from seed. This is because the veggies are either hybridized to be sterile OR because they've been irradiated to prevent them from sprouting. Garlic is a key example of this. Most garlic is from China and it has been stored forever and it doesn't sprout very well because it has been treated NOT to.

Your best bet if you want to grow veggies is this: buy the plants from a greenhouse in the spring when they are on sale and take it from there. Starting plants from seed gets a bit tricky -- you need to start most plants about 8 weeks before you can put them in the ground. Not before that! And you need grow lights and to keep the soil moist, too. The reason you have to start them early is because most of these plants are from tropical areas and need a certain amount of time in heat to ripen and be productive. For example, hot peppers are harvested around 80-120 days after they are sown. And if you have a cool summer, you won't get enough grow time in your season to harvest. This is why most of these plants are either started indoors from seed 8 weeks before you put them in the ground, or planted as baby plants in the ground.

Tomatoes are another one of these plants that really need to be started indoors or bought as baby plants.

Remember, a growing season goes from your last frost date in the spring to your first expected frost date in the fall. For NC, your dates are April 26th-ish to October 12thish. Not alot of time!

I might suggest that next year you might want to expand your herb garden -- basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano...and if you want to grow bell peppers, read up on them this fall/winter, and buy plants already started in the spring. Plant them in the right location, and have fun!!!