With autumn upon us and winter approaching, soon frost and freeze will close down our outside gardening activities, but there is another interesting way we can continue our gardening on a much smaller scale indoors. It is an easy and inexpensive project, and one that children especially enjoy. Perhaps they will make it a school project to be shared with their classmates.

The equipment needed for this project is as follows:

1. Two pans that fit into each other: plastic dishpans are good. Place some blocks in the lower pan so that when the top pan is fitted into the lower pan, there is 2 inches of clearance.

2. Six 6-inch strips of polyester cloth 1 inch wide.

3. Well balanced fertilizer. A 15-30-15 ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash is good, or non-odorous organic fertilizer.

4. Vermiculite, or other sterile growing medium, such as washed sand, aquarium pebbles, etc.

5. Your favorite small plants (herbs are especially nice). Don't use seeds, unless you start them separately and then transfer them.

Drill six 1/2 inch holes in the bottom of the upper pan. Draw a strip of the fabric about halfway through the holes to act as wicks. Fill this pan almost to the top with the sterile growing medium. Mix 2 quarts of the liquid fertilizer according to package directions (a granular fertilizer probably is the easiest to locate but be sure to mix with water before saturating the growing medium). Fit upper pan into the lower one and pour the solution through the growing medium. It will drip into the bottom pan. Make sure that all the growing medium is thoroughly dampened. Also, be sure there is clearance so that the top pan does not sit in the liquid in the bottom pan. (The wicks will carry the solution up into the growing medium.)

Wash all the soil from the roots of the plants you are going to grow, then gently insert them in the growing medium and press the medium firmly around the roots. You can put more plants in this small growing area than you would in the garden because you are constantly feeding them.

Place your garden on a counter in a sunny window, or under fluorescent lights about 8 to 12 inches above the plants. (Shop lights work well for a light source.) Also, if you can, put an automatic timer on the light source and set it so that your plants get 14-16 hours of light daily.

Care is easy. Just pour fresh fertilizer solution through the growing medium every week, or as often as necessary to keep about an inch of liquid in the bottom pan so that the wicks can draw it up.