labor wise is no worse than outdoor gardening, in fact some may argue it’s easier because no weeding. You’re correct that it’s pricey to set up though, especially the grow lights.
There are other options however. You can grow a lot of things over. winter in cold frames for example. Kale, carrots, spinach, many other cold hardy veg will do just fine in a cold frame. If you have southern facing windows in your home you’d be surprised what you can get to grow in them in containers.
The main thing though is planning and growing things in the summer that store for many months. There are varieties of onion, carrot, squash, and potatoes that will store in the ground or in a root cellar for several months. And although relying on the power grid isn’t ideal, you can get a chest freezer and stock up a LOT of veg (i currently have several pounds of frozen okra in my fridge) and don’t forget learning to can. Canned veg can last up to 2 years.
While it is the wrong time of year to start on a lot of these things, it’s never the wrong time to start learning and planning.
Just to add here a little bit, it can be expensive to set up. I just spent maybe 400 bucks to set up a system using the Kratky method, tent, LED light, medium, nutes, seeds, containers and net pots. Granted, the veggies you can grow in there are somewhat limited, but will be a good supplement to what I saved from the summer. I should mention, in that seed order are my summer seeds also and they are unusual heirloom varieties, so could have been cheaper. Check your local nurseries for leftover seeds from this year on sale.
imo $400 is extremely reasonable for all that. i’ve seen grow lights that are well over $1k by themselves (see BlackDog lights). I found out last winter that green beans do great under inexpensive “burple” lights. I have a few Vivospectra lights that cost ~$130 and beans grew to normal outdoor size under them in just the soil nutes, no additional fertilizer, i was so impressed.
labor wise is no worse than outdoor gardening, in fact some may argue it’s easier because no weeding. You’re correct that it’s pricey to set up though, especially the grow lights.
There are other options however. You can grow a lot of things over. winter in cold frames for example. Kale, carrots, spinach, many other cold hardy veg will do just fine in a cold frame. If you have southern facing windows in your home you’d be surprised what you can get to grow in them in containers.
The main thing though is planning and growing things in the summer that store for many months. There are varieties of onion, carrot, squash, and potatoes that will store in the ground or in a root cellar for several months. And although relying on the power grid isn’t ideal, you can get a chest freezer and stock up a LOT of veg (i currently have several pounds of frozen okra in my fridge) and don’t forget learning to can. Canned veg can last up to 2 years.
While it is the wrong time of year to start on a lot of these things, it’s never the wrong time to start learning and planning.
Just to add here a little bit, it can be expensive to set up. I just spent maybe 400 bucks to set up a system using the Kratky method, tent, LED light, medium, nutes, seeds, containers and net pots. Granted, the veggies you can grow in there are somewhat limited, but will be a good supplement to what I saved from the summer. I should mention, in that seed order are my summer seeds also and they are unusual heirloom varieties, so could have been cheaper. Check your local nurseries for leftover seeds from this year on sale.
imo $400 is extremely reasonable for all that. i’ve seen grow lights that are well over $1k by themselves (see BlackDog lights). I found out last winter that green beans do great under inexpensive “burple” lights. I have a few Vivospectra lights that cost ~$130 and beans grew to normal outdoor size under them in just the soil nutes, no additional fertilizer, i was so impressed.