Indoor Gardening for Winter Gardening

Start an Indoor Garden

Indoor gardening is the perfect answer to those winter blahs that home gardeners often experience.

Gardening can be a relaxing hobby. In fact, studies have shown that gardening reduces stress and even increases longevity. Unfortunately, during the winter in many climates, outdoor gardening is impossible. But it IS still possible to do winter gardening. All it takes is an indoor garden...

Aside from the aesthetic value plants provide your home with, there are also health benefits - grade school science class tells us that plants cleanse the air through utilizing the carbon dioxide and producing more oxygen.

You may want to start by installing a plant hook or two for hanging plants. Some popular, easy to grow hanging plants are spider plants, Boston ferns and chenille plants. When you buy your plant, it will probably be in a plastic pot. You may want to transfer the plant to a slightly bigger, more decorative pot to give it a healthy start.

There are so many different houseplant varieties that you may have some trouble narrowing down your choices for windowsill plants. Some easy care plants include African violets, peace lilies, and decorative ivy. African violets can have double flowers, rare colors, or variegated leaves.

Some people fill every available window with African violets and they still don't own every variety. Peace lilies require indirect light and can have white or pale pink flowers. Ivy is frequently grown on a topiary frame for added interest.

While you are filling your window sill with plants, don't forget bulbs. When you use forced bulbs, you can make spring arrive early, at least on your window sill. Good bulb varieties for forcing are daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.

To force your bulbs, you will need to chill them for a few months in a refrigerator or an unheated room. Then, plant your bulbs, place them in the window, and keep them watered. They should sprout in four to six weeks.

For a more exotic indoor gardening window, try some orchid varieties. Despite their difficult reputation, these plants are actually easy to care for. Phalaenopsis and paphiopedilum orchid varieties are the most commonly recommended orchids for beginners, but cattleya orchids are also fairly easy to grow.

Phalaenopsis and paphiopedilum orchids have bold flowers and beginning orchid fanciers can usually get them to re-bloom. Cattleya orchids usually have small, delicate flowers and it is more difficult to get them to re-bloom.

To care for your orchids, you will need a clay pot, a potting mix made specifically for orchids, a tray, and pebbles. Re-pot your orchid in the clay pot in fresh potting mix. Run room temperature water over the orchid for about two minutes and then let the orchid drain.

The most frequent cause of orchid death is standing water, so you want to be sure the excess water is gone before you put your orchid on the window sill. Place your tray on the window sill and cover the bottom of the tray with pebbles. Put the orchid on the tray. Once a week, check to see if the potting mix has dried out. If so, water the orchid just as you did when you transplanted it.

Let's look at a few factors to do right when it comes to houseplants...

Most indoor plants need good lighting. You can provide this through natural lighting in the room of your choice or there must be electric lighting. Darker leaved plants usually don't need as much light as others.

Here are the varieties of plants (usually those that only require medium to low light) that are known to be suitable for indoor gardening:

a. Philodendrons b. Boston ferns c. African violets d. Cyclamens e. Creeping Fig

A common mistake most people make in indoor gardening is they tend to over-water the plants, which may lead to rotting roots. Make sure to research the type of plant you have, because each kind of plant varies on their watering needs.

Choose good quality and attractive container for your indoor plants. Make sure that the pot is clean before placing your new plant into it to prevent infection and to encourage healthy growth.

In indoor gardening, humidity is a big issue. The amount of moisture in the air has effect on the growth of the plants. During mornings, you could spray the plants with water for their much-needed moisture. Make sure the leaves don't get covered in dust.

Just like watering, fertilizing depends on the type of plant. If you have managed to supply your indoor garden with the right amount of light, water and humidity, fertilization may not need much attention. A good indoor fertilizer can be bought from most home depot or hardware stores. Orchids need the special fertilizer available.

If you have a black thumb when it comes to houseplants, you can still successfully grow plants inside your house. You just need to grow them in a terrarium. After all, to care for a terrarium, you basically need to neglect it.

To make a terrarium for your window, you will need a lidded container, such as a fish tank or a gallon sized pickle jar, sand, potting soil, and a few small tropical plants or ferns.

Fill the bottom of your container with three inches of sand. On top of the sand, pour a few inches of soil. Make a hollow in the soil for each plant you will be putting in the terrarium. Place each plant in the container and fill in the area around the plant with more potting soil.

If the soil and sand were dry, you may need to add a few tablespoons of water to the terrarium. If the terrarium is properly balanced, you should never need to water it again. Put the lid on your container and put it in an area that does not receive direct sunlight. If you notice too much moisture building up in the terrarium, crack the lid for a few minutes too allow some of it to escape.

Once your indoor gardening takes off and you have a few plants growing and blooming in your indoor garden, it will be a bit easier for you to wait for springtime to arrive. I think you'll agree that winter gardening has never been so much fun!

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