Indoor Gardening Tips

If you have no space for an outdoor garden and crave to be surrounded by greenery throughout the year then you must definitely venture into indoor gardening. Indoor gardening requires a certain amount of commitment but think about this-once you have planned your garden, it will transform your stale room into a green retreat. Indoor plants will make you feel refreshed and revitalized and help you relax and unwind when you come home from a tough day at work. And all it takes is a little love and care from your side!

Here are some tips to make your own indoor garden:

• Always rotate your plants occasionally towards the light source. As indoor plants have few sources of light, they tend to bend towards that source.
• Like humans, even plants need a bath, albeit occasionally! This is necessary to clean all the dust and grime on the plants.
• Allow plenty of ventilation to keep your plants fresh.
• Ensure your plants get enough sunlight. Your plants need the appropriate amount of sunlight, the lack of which makes them thin and frail. Check out your home and gauge the light sources. If the house receives very little sunlight, buy some plants that are appropriate for low light atmospheres. The other option would be to place your plants outside in the mornings and bring them back again in the evenings.
• Water right to watch your greens grow. Too much dryness or wetness is a big no-no! Use water having room temperature. Also ensure the containers and the soil have proper drainage.
• Add fertilizers at regular times. Maintain the time schedule as this would help you in preventing an excess of the same.
• Indoor plants need separate soil. Avoid using soil from the garden; the reason being that outdoor soil may contain weeds and other such things that can be harmful to them. Try the local nursery for the container soil.
• Always maintain a record of your plant. Keep the details such as the purchase date, the time you probably added the fertilizers etc.
• Drainage holes are of utmost importance to the plants. Most pots are sold without drainage holes therefore you should make holes on the pots yourself. Without proper drainage holes, the water in the soil tends to collect in the pot. This would damage the roots of the plant.

What are the tools used for Indoor Gardening?

You would need the garden scissors, pruners with micro tip blades, water beakers with nozzle, spray bottles, soil thermometers, digital climate monitor, heat mats, trowels, weeders, garden transplanter and soil scoopers. These would ensure you an easy way to go about your indoor gardening process.

Indoor Vegetable gardening:

Here are a few vegetables to consider for indoor growing:

• Cherry tomatoes
• 'Gypsy' peppers
• Various hot peppers
• Cucumbers (Short-vined)
• Leaf Lettuce of all types
• Bush beans
• Small-rooted carrots
• Small-rooted beets
• Radishes
• Miniature cabbage
• Bunching onions
• Spinach
• Eggplant

Factors to consider for indoor vegetable gardening:

• Vegetable seeds are sometimes hard to procure at times. Buy the seeds in advance so that you can start your indoor vegetable garden when you desire.
• Vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet/hot peppers, beans and cucumbers need warmer daytime and nighttime temperatures. This would ensure they flower and yield in abundance. Ideally choose a south facing indoor room with heating. Or go in for one that warms up considerably in the winter from solar heating.
• The indoor vegetable plants may not always be the same size as the varieties grown outdoors. But the crops can perform well if all the factors are dealt with at the right time.
• The major advantage of growing veggies indoors would be the lack of insects and other pests that can harm your crops. Indoor vegetable gardens also attract other problems like insect pests common to houseplants.

Here’s hoping you develop a green thumb and the love affair with yours plants is a never-ending one!