The Joy of Indoor Gardening

Indoor gardening involves so much more than sticking an artificial plant in the corner of a room and dusting the leaves off every so often!

Growing plants indoors is a rewarding hobby that provides beautiful decoration and usable products, while removing carbon dioxide, pollutants and poisonous toxins from the air in your home. Indoor gardening is inexpensive and easy to do – even for those without green thumbs!

The basic rules of maintenance for indoor gardening are different than outdoor gardens, but they can be learned easily. Lighting is essential, since plants won’t receive the sunlight they would outside. To compensate, you can either choose plants that require low-medium light or supply artificial lighting to meet the plant’s needs. Plants such as ferns and philodendrons require low light and can be successfully raised indoors. Regardless of how you provide lighting, you’ll need to rotate your plants while indoor gardening to be sure that the plant receives even lighting.

Watering is also a concern in indoor gardening. All plants need water, but how often you’ll need to water depends on the kind of plant you choose. Some succulents only need to be watered a few times a month, while other plants require water more often. Be sure that container you choose for your indoor plants has proper drainage so that excess water doesn’t sit in the bottom of the pot. This prevents the plant’s roots from rotting and helps control the buildup of salts and other minerals found in tap water.

When beginning your indoor garden, you’ll need to determine the amount of time you plan to spend caring for your plants and the amount of money you want to put into installing artificial lighting and otherwise maintaining the plants. If your budget is low, you can start with plant cuttings or seeds, or if you can spend a bit more, you can start with a growing plant. You can purchase plants that will grow year-round or those that can be harvested after a season. Herb gardens make wonderful indoor gardens, since they grow quickly, offer products you can use and are pleasing to the eye. Some popular cooking herbs that can be grown indoors include dill, sage, chives, oregano and thyme.

You should also consider how much gardening experience you have when selecting indoor plants. Plants like bromeliads, succulents, coleus, scandens, fatsia and cyprus are hearty and can be grown by even the most inexperienced gardener. More delicate plants like orchids and herbs require more care and may be better suited to a more experienced gardener. If you want to grow these plants indoors, but don’t have a lot of experience, don’t worry. Just give it a try – the worst that can happen is that the plant will die. You’ll gain valuable experience and you’re sure to do better the next time.

Indoor gardening is no more difficult that outdoor gardening, but there are several different factors you’ll need to take into account. On the plus side, you won’t have to worry about outdoor insects and pasts, or about damaging winds and frost wreaking havoc on your garden. You’ll just be able to sit back and enjoy the beauty of your plants throughout the year in your indoor garden.

TheGardenStaff.com is a great resource for information on vegetable gardening, rose gardening, water gardening and more. Let us help your garden grow!