If you plan to have a garden but your living space does not provide any area for growing plants, you may opt for an indoor garden. Having gardens is not limited to those who have ample lawns or backyards to deposit ornamental and vegetable plants. Maintaining an indoor garden is now a practical way of providing greenery to your abode, to add to the total allure and charm of your home.
Indoor gardens are not really hard to sustain. The proverbial green thumb is not really the answer to a lush indoor garden because anyone can actually plant and cultivate by following certain tips such as the following:
- Choose a sunny part in your house. This can be by the window or near the kitchen or laundry room where windows and doors can be fully opened to allow air and sunshine. If natural light is not enough, make sure you have available artificial lighting. Also, take note of the kind of plants you will be placing indoors. Some plants that need less sunlight and are ideal for indoor gardens are creeping fig, Boston ferns, African violets, Philodendrons and cyclamens. Moreover, flowering plants should be placed by the window because they need as much light as possible to produce flowers.
- Choose large and clean pots. Since the plants cannot get as much sunlight as they would if they were outside, make it a point that the pots are large enough to accommodate more soil. If they have a lot of soil, the roots will have more room to grow and move, hence making the absorption of water and nutrients more effective, and thus making up for the lack of direct sunlight.
- Don't over water the plants. Since they are indoors, water doesn't evaporate quickly. If you give them too much water, their roots and leaves might rot and the plants might eventually die.
- Spray the leaves every morning so the plants can maintain their humidity. This also keeps the leaves clean and dust free thus allowing the plants to breathe freely without any obstruction.
- Be careful in choosing the fertilizer for your plants. Remember that there are plants (like the orchids), which don't need fertilizer anymore. Too much fertilizer can cause the roots to decay, therefore use it sparingly.
- Don't overcrowd your garden. Set the plants at least a foot apart to give room for ventilation. To add a touch of artistry, you may cluster the plants in a case to create a real garden effect.
- Planting a tree cutting in an indoor garden is a little challenging at the beginning. Make sure the tree cutting is first exposed to outdoor light until such time that it can survive by itself inside the house with minimal sunlight.
- Bonsai plants are great add-ons to your indoor garden. A regular tree trimming is necessary however in order to maintain the lush figures of these mini trees. Use trimming tools that are really designed for such purpose.
- Aside from ornamental plants, you can also put up your own organic vegetable garden inside your house. The most ideal place for these plants is the kitchen or by the lanai where you can readily harvest tomatoes or herbs for use in your cooking.
- Before planting young plants indoors, you must tend them first in a separate nursery, preferably situated outside the house.
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