Take a look at the ContainerSeeds site. I have ordered a few varieties to include as part of a preplanted Container Veggie Garden Christmas gift for various friends for Christmas. The Broccoli was not mentioned as a candidate for indoor growing, but since it is technically not a fruiting plant, even it might make it with cool temperaures and supplemental light. I've included my own notes for the selected varieties, but there were many other choices available: Small Miracle Broccoli Hybrid. 6- to 7-inch, dome-shaped, tight heads on 1- to 1 1/2-foot plants with abundant side shoots. Can be placed as close as 8" apart. 12" deep, 12" in diameter, or larger. Vendor grew three plants in a 14" diameter container. Cool Breeze Cucumber These 5' vines produce numerous 4-5" Fench Cornichon type cukes that are great for making sweet pickles or slicing fresh into salads. This is a all female variety, and will set fruit without pollination. So would be good not only for small gardens but also in a greenhouse or in a brightly lit window. Days To Maturity: 45-49 Recommended Container Size: 1 to 2 plants in a 5 gallon container Red Robin Tomato Early-Season Open-pollinated cherry tomato. Determinate, stocky, 1- to 2-foot plants are good for containers and Can still set fruit under fairly low light conditions, for example on a sunny windowsill in winter. Probably more fruitful with supplemental indoor lighting. Days To Maturity: 55-68\ This is a prolific bearer, and is best grown in a a 10 inch pot. Does not seem to like an open garden environment, and is ideal in a pot on a patio or similar. Very sweet and very hardy plant. Comes back true to type each year from seed taken from ripe fruit. Sweet Pickle Pepper Ornamental and edible, too! Upright fruits of red, orange, yellow and purple cover compact plants for a rainbow of color. When the plump, 2 inch fruits ripen to scarlet red, they are very sweet with no trace of heat or bitterness. Excellent for pickling and also great for eating fresh. A true miniature pepper. The little peppers, in shades of red, orange, yellow, and purple (simultaneously), make this a very ornamental little plant. Unlike most ornamentals, these peppers are sweet* Good for growing indoors in winter, using natural sunshine plus supplemental fluorescent light. Will have peppers approximately 75 days after transplanting outdoors, a little longer indoors. *NOTE: ContainerSeeds vendor warns that their hot/sweet varieties may have gotten mixed up, so if you want to be sure you are getting the sweet variety, order elsewhere. Enjoy your winter garden and let us know how it grew for you. J Here is a link that might be useful: ContainerSeeds

I am in Zone 6 and even though I have a garden I try to bring some herbs indoors for winter. I have had rosemary, marjoram and lemon grass in containers that I leave outside in late spring and bring back indoors in early fall, for about 4 years now. I also plant garlic cloves for indoor use almost all year round. 5-6 cloves from grocery sotre garlic stuffed in potting mix in a 6-8 inch container will yield fresh garlic chives in 10-15 days. I used to have Thyme and Lavender too, but those didnt survive beyond two years. My guess is it is the uneven heating /cooling and drafts that get these plants more than anything else. Hope this helps.

I have a room in my garage that hold 4 400W MH/HPS grow lights. In that room I grow my winter herbs, tomatoes, greens and other things. I also over-winter my rosemary off to the side. They are doing great, but it takes a lot of light. Also, remember things like Basil love the heat while Cilantro not so much. You have to balance light and heat, which can be hard in a small room. Windows don't work, they can get too cold and not enough light. If you must use CFL, do so in a bathroom or bedroom, away from windows. Try and keep them warm. If you look on craiglist in your area, you can usually find a used grow light (MH or HPS) cheap (under $100). Many times youngsters buy the expensive ones to grow marijuana and it doesn't work out, so they sell the lights. A nice by-product of grow lights is a lot of heat. My 10x10 unheated garage space stays 85 degrees by sealing in the heat from my three lights.

Pay close attention to the numbers. Most indoor 'plant food' is very high in nitrogen. For example, Miracle Gro water soluble plant food is 24-8-16. Nitrogen will grow a whole lot of very bland leaves. It's better to use a balanced fertilizer (all numbers the same), or something close to a balanced fertilizer. I recently bought some 'organic tomato, herb and vegetable' plant food that was 5-4-6, with added calcium and micro-nutrients. In the Miracle-Gro famliy, the "Shake 'n Feed Tomato, fruits and vegetables" stuff is a reasonable choice (9-4-12 plus micro-nutrients), although I don't really trust 'slow release' products that claim to last 3 months if you're putting it in small containers.