Don’t let the seasons deprive you of fresh herbs and produce!
During the 2025 Fall Harvest Festival at Baker Creek, garden expert Wendi Phan shared her season-extending strategies.
She started gardening in a 300-square-foot gardening space at her home in Los Angeles. Her love of rare plants, especially Asian culinary and medicinal plants, has gained Wendi a loyal following on social media.
“I’ve always had this love for the rare. I wanted to grow something I couldn’t find in the grocery store,” Wendi says.
While she grows in the mild climate of southern California, her year-round gardening strategies will work in any climate.
Follow Wendi on social media for more great tips and inspiration!
YouTube: @wendiland
Instagram: @itswendiland
Wendi has turned a narrow outdoor space into a lush tropical paradise at her home in Los Angeles. (Photo by Wendi Phan.)
Overwintering Your Plants
Pro tips:
- Use fluffy potting mix, not garden soil from your outdoor beds! Plants need good soil aeration, and using clean, fresh potting mix helps prevent fungal infections.
- Always bottom water to prevent disease.
- And remember – plants indoors require less than half as much water as those growing outdoors in the summer, so water sparingly!
While it can be fun to start all over again each spring, it’s also satisfying to overwinter your plants if possible, Wendi says.
Slower-growing plants such as peppers, eggplants, lemongrass, and some herbs such as rosemary, are particularly worth bringing indoors for the cold season,
Almost without exception, plants will grow more slowly indoors than out, especially if you’re growing in natural light, Wendi says.
Before bringing outdoor plants indoors, trim them back by about one-third to reduce stress, improve air circulation, and help them use water and nutrients more efficiently. Remove any weak stems, flowers, or fruits, and place plants in the brightest window available — south- or southwest-facing in the Northern Hemisphere (north-facing in the Southern Hemisphere) — or use grow lights.
Consider growing moringa and aloe vera, two powerhouse plants with many uses.
While moringa trees can grow very tall, they can also be kept small and grown in a 5- to 15-gallon pot, Wendi says. Moringa is rich in fiber, vitamins A, C, and E, as well as other nutrients such as potassium and calcium.
“Moringa is really worth overwintering,” Wendi says. “You can treat this as a container plant.”
Maximizing Your Indoor Set Up
Pro Tips:
- Aim for 14 to 16 hours of light daily. Give your seedlings or plants six to eight hours of sleep each night. (When you sleep, they sleep!)
- Always water from the bottom tray under your seeds or pots. (Say it louder for the people in the back.)
You may get as fancy as you want, grow lights, but a small fan and a shelf or table are really all you need to get growing.
Wendi recommends investing in a heat mat and adjustable straps for the grow lights so that they are easy to move closer or farther away from the plants. (It’s especially important to keep the light source just a few inches from the soil as seeds are germinating. Otherwise, they will “reach” for the light source, making the stems weak and spindly.
She also recommends placing a reflective surface around the sides of the growing area – even aluminum foil or white paper will work to bounce light toward the seedlings or plants.
Photo by Wendi Phan
Light is key:
- When growing indoors, aim to mimic the sun as much as possible indoors, Wendi says.
- If you’re just planning to grow seedlings or microgreens, or keep plants alive over the winter, regular old shop lights will work just fine. Use two- to four-foot fluorescent or LED strip lights.
- For growing mature leafy greens and fruiting crops, choose full-spectrum LEDs (blue + red + white).
- Look for broad-spectrum lights of 5,000 to 7,000 Kelvin units. (In grow lights, Kelvin units measure how ‘warm’ -- yellow-red – or ‘cool’ -- blue-white – the light appears.)
- Also pay attention to the specs for light spectrums.
- A blue spectrum of 400 to 500 nanometers (nm) promotes leafy growth and prevents stretching.
- A red spectrum of 600 to 700 nanometers (nm) is important for flowers and fruit.
- Clear / white light wavelengths balance the spectrum, mimic daylight, and are easy on the eyes.
How to Tell If Your Plants Are Stressed
Are they stretching (getting leggy)? This can usually be fixed by providing more light. If you’re using grow lights, move them closer to the plants. If you’re growing in natural light, bring the plants closer to a light source.
Yellowing often indicates a nutrient deficiency or overwatering. Use the ‘finger test’ to check the moisture level by placing your finger one to two inches into the soil. If it comes out dry, it’s time to water!
Plants produce anthocyanins as a kind of sunscreen to protect against excess light, so red or purple pigments in the leaves can indicate light stress. Try moving the light source farther away from the plant or reducing the hours of light exposure.
Wilting can indicate overwatering and/or poor airflow around the plant. Give it the finger test, and improve airflow by running a small fan.
A Few of Wendi's Favorite Indoor Plants
Jiao gu lan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) is an Asian climbing plant with traditional medicinal uses and adaptogenic (stress relieving) qualities. With a lightly bitter flavor and sweet aftertaste, it is often brewed into tea.
The plants go dormant in cold weather and re-sprout in spring, so bring them inside and let them keep growing in a window. Wendi says they will do well in morning sun to part shade; keep the soil evenly moist. Keep it away from intense sunlight.
Jiao gu lan’s trailing habit makes it ideal for hanging baskets or groundcover.
Water Hyssop (Bacopa monnieri) is a traditional medicinal herb valued for supporting memory and focus. It does well in moist soil or water, and indirect sun and part shade.
It is super-fast growing, with edible, lightly bitter leaves and dainty white flowers. Water Hyssop makes an excellent ground cover.
Magenta plant (Dicliptera tinctoria) is used as a natural food coloring, giving a bright pink-magenta hue to rice dishes, desserts, and tisanes.
Magenta has a compact, upright growth habit. It can thrive in bright indirect sun and prefers consistently moist soil.
The leaves (and flowers) of magenta contain the signature red-purple pigment of anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant.
There are several ways to extract the color; steep a handful of leaves in boiling water; cold brew them in cold water (slower but effective) orset a container of leaves and water in the sun. The longer it steeps, the deeper the color becomes.
Dwarf Tomatoes! Consider growing tiny tomatoes like Orange Hat or Micro Tom for a burst of fresh summer flavor in the short, dark days of winter.
Just remember:
- Use a heat mat to speed germination.
- Indoor crops take two to three times longer from seed to harvest.
- Feed nutrients regularly. (Give a light feeding every one to two weeks.)
- Grow in a roomy container at least six inches deep and around. (The soil in too-small containers dries out quickly.)
- Succession plant every two weeks for steady harvests.
Leafy Greens! Growing leafy greens in pots is an easy way to keep a supply of fresh salad or stir fry greens.
Wendi recommends growing several small pots (4- to 6-inch or pots) at a time for cut-and-come-again harvesting. (Plants with deeper taproots, such as kale, need deeper pots.)
“You can still have quite lush plants,” she says.
Using a heat mat helps speed growth, but your leafy greens will still take longer to mature indoors. Feed them lightly every one to two weeks.
Citrus! Compact citrus varieties such as kumquat and calamondin (also known as calamansi) do well in 5- to 15-gallon containers indoors. Terra cotta pots help soil dry evenly and prevent fungal issues. Use a well-draining citrus mix with perlite added for aeration. Water only when top inch is dry to prevent root rot.
Calamondin is a mandarin orange-kumquat hybrid known as ‘four-season citrus’ in China, because it can be grown year-round in warmer climates. It is very tart, and while it can be eaten fresh, it is more commonly used in sauces or jams.
Kumquats originated in China, where they have been cultivated for centuries. The name derives from the Cantonese ‘kam kwat,’ meaning ‘golden orange.’ Scottish botanical explorer Robert Fortune (who also introduced balloon flowers to European gardeners) brought the fruit to Europe in the 19th century. Its size and signature sweet rind and tart flesh make it unique among citrus fruits.
Kumquat is also the cold-hardiest citrus; it thrives in temps from 55 to 85 F and can tolerate brief periods of temperatures down to 20 F, though it may drop leaves when near freezing to conserve energy and avoid cold damage.
Calamondin is a tropical citrus, and it prefers temperatures between 60 and 90 F (15-32 C). It can tolerate brief exposure to 32 F (0 C). It is best brought indoors before frost.
The fruit takes 6 to 12 months to ripen after flowering.
Dwarf tomatoes bring you summer goodness all winter!
Indoor leafy greens make long winters delicious!
Citrus plants are great indoors!
Microgreens: Big Nutrition in Small Spaces!
Microgreens are a fun and densely nutritious addition to your culinary palette. They are quick to harvest – depending on the seed they are ready for harvest in anywhere from 7 to 21 days – and they’re easy to scale up or down depending on the space you have for growing.
Microgreens Growing Tips:
- Sow the seeds densely and provide plenty of drainage. If you’re using recycled containers, drill holes in the bottom.
- Use a light, fluffy growing medium. Wendi uses coco coir, but she says any type of potting mix will work.
- Many types of microgreens benefit from a ‘blackout period' after sowing. This simply means blocking the light from them for two to four days using a blackout dome or other material that’s impermeable to light.
- Then remove the cover, place the containers by a bright window or under grow lights.
- Always bottom water, filling the bottom tray rather than watering the soil surface.
- Harvest when the first true leaf appears, before the stems toughen.
- Freshly harvested microgreens will last three or four days when refrigerated in an air-tight container.
Wendi says growing microgreens makes her happy!
Sprouts!
Growing sprouts is one of the most laid-back ways to brighten up the dinner plate in winter. You can grow them in a jar on a windowsill or counter, and depending on the seed, they’re ready to use in three to seven days.
All you need is a glass jar and sprouting lid (or cheesecloth and a rubber band), plus a plate or tray for drainage.
Remember, seeds will expand four to eight times their size when sprouted. For small seeds such as alfalfa or broccoli, use one to two tablespoons. For larger seeds or beans (i.e., mung beans, peas, lentils or garbanzos), use 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
Steps for sprouting:
- Soak seeds for 6 to 8 hours.
- Rinse and drain in the same jar.
- For the first three days, rinse and drain 2 to 3 times per day. (Rinsing is super important.)
- After day three, rinse 1 to 2 times per day.
- Harvest in five to seven days, when baby leaves turn green.
Refrigerated in an air-tight container, sprouts will keep 3 to 4 days.
Wendi's picks for sprouting:
- Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans)
- Lentils
- Mung beans
- Alfalfa
- Clover
- Peas
- Broccoli
- Radish
