Depth of containers for indoor gardens

Question

I am growing an indoor garden in my basement apartment on a racking system I built. I have two shelves 2' deep, 4' long and 2' high with two 4' T5 flouresants for light.

The question I have is for the containers of the garden, how deep should this containers be to accommodate full grown plant root? I am thinking of growing basil, parsley, mint, oregano, chives, green onions, arugala and maybe another lettuce. It is hard to find information on root length for plants online or else I would just look there.

Any and all help would be REALLY appreciated!

Answer 1

Aim for a minimum depth of 8 inches - 10-12 inches would be better for mint and the onions. Mint, though, will start to get a bit manky after a year or so, because it likes its roots to be able to penetrate over a foot into the ground, and to spread sideways, so you may need to turn it out and replant some of the fresher root runners in its second or third year. It will also need a container entirely to itself, because it'll crowd out anything else you try to grow with it. Oregano, if it likes where its growing, spreads like mad, so be prepared to turf it out and split it up and replant a section when it gets out of hand. I'm assuming your fluorescent T5s are proper growlights and not just the T5s commonly used for under cabinet kitchen lighting.