Indoor gardens are great for humans. Their presence in our environment eliminates the bulk of the stress that causes disease and may even lower blood pressure and blood sugar. Many houseplants act as air purifiers, absorbing formaldehyde and other toxic indoor fumes. If sustainable packaging is insisted on, then we have not just healthy gardens for humans but the earth too.
Beyond the health benefits, houseplants afford us a real connection with nature, make sweet winter companion, and lend softness and warmth to our surroundings. Although, most indoor environments are poor habitations for plants — and that’s not surprising, homes are designed to provide human comfort anyway. Houseplants are tropical and subtropical natives that require high humidity, which makes them not thrive in the typical dry modern interior.
Starting your indoor garden
Before you start a garden, you need to ask yourself what you want to grow. After, you then figure out how much space you have and how much you need. Do a rough estimate of the cost and make a budget for the amount you are looking to spend.
You want to look at other factors like heat and lighting as well. Cool-weather plants, like greens, requires temperatures of 50º-70º to thrive. Warm weather plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, thrive in the temperature range of 60º-80º.
Let’s discuss two major ways of growing a garden indoors.
Container Growing
This is probably those pots of herbs you see on the windowsill of houses. It is quite basic and requires a well-draining medium, a container with holes in the bottom, a tray with extra water, and light.
The choice of the growing container is highly important. In our quest to improve the quality of plants grown, we have created sustainable packaging solutions designed for the needs of growers and gardeners. Sustainable growing containers provide an optimal solution for propagation, as the entire pot can be safely planted in garden beds, without disturbing the root system.
Hydroponics
Hydroponics involves a system that uses water to transport nutrients to the plant roots. Water used for houseplants should be well filtered and have a pH level around 6–6.5. Here, instead of soil, a medium used could be perlite, vermiculite peat moss, coconut fiber, and rock wool. In choosing a medium (root support), you must stay away from materials that might compact (like sand) or that don’t retain any moisture (like gravel).
Houseplants are going to need a lot of nutrients such as calcium phosphorus, magnesium, etc, and these nutrients are added to the water that is cycled through the system. Although you can prepare your nutrient solution, it’s easy to buy mixtures online and in stores.
Additionally, if you are growing your plants indoors, you might have to invest in some special light. Each plant has a different requirement for the amount of light it needs and for the placement of lights (typically referred to as Daily Light Integral or DLI).
