What kinds of plants are you trying to grow, Reine? Do you have really good window light in your home? I don't. We have a giant maple tree on the SW (front) side of our home as well as a porch with a roof, and my nieighbor's tall trees block the direct sun to the back (NE) side of the house. If you have big windows with good sun that can help a lot. But in the dead of winter, when days are so short, a little supplemental light can make a huge difference to most plants. Most aren't going to be that picky about the specific color of light You are fortunate to live in a warm climate where plants can remain outside much of the year where they'll get the best possible natural light. Up here in Ohio, not so much.
Also consider: what kind of conditions do you have in mind? If you want to grow a bunch of stuff on a big table in your basement, one MH or HPS light hung from the ceiling might work out fine. If you want them on shelves, fluorescent tubes fit the bill. The fluorescent tubes just need to be pretty close to the plants (a few inches above). My high output t5s have worked great for anything I've tried to grow. Simple shop lights seem to work fine for most plants.
Karen
