Indoor Plants

My Indoor Garden

2011-01-25T03:36:00.001-08:00

Successful Indoor Gardening

2011-01-22T06:03:00.001-08:00

The Joys Of Indoor Gardening Indoor gardening, or gardening that is done indoors as in offices and residences, has become a popular hobby. Other than its aesthetic appeal, it also provides health benefits such as purification of air. Generally houseplants are grown in indoor gardening. The more popular methods of indoor gardening include organic gardening and container gardening where the use of chemicals is avoided. Thousands of houseplants are grown in indoor gardening. Typical houseplants,
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Easy Indoor Gardening

2011-01-19T03:34:00.001-08:00

Even if you're not an avid gardener or flower lover, the sight of a well-maintained indoor garden is impressive. However, if you've tried your hand at indoor gardening, it's not as easy as bringing the plants indoors. Here are some tips to start you off on the right foot. The first crucial decision has to do with lighting. Ask yourself, exactly how much light should I give the plants? Your house may not have enough light for your plants to exist, so this is a prime consideration. Are you

Caring For Indoor Plants

2011-01-18T12:25:00.001-08:00

As houseplants are living in an unnatural environment we need to give them extra care to get the best results. They will require all the elements of outdoor plants in their need for good nutrients, water, ventilation, light and a suitable climate.

Without this balance they will soon wither and die. It is vitally important that they have the best quality soil. As with outdoor plants they will need soil that is light enough for their roots and to hold water and air, but not so light as to allow

The Enjoyment of House Plants

2010-04-11T03:36:00.000-07:00

Indoor gardening, or gardening that is done indoors as in offices and residences, has become a popular hobby. Other than its aesthetic appeal, it also provides health benefits such as purification of air. Generally houseplants are grown in indoor gardening. The more popular methods of indoor gardening include organic gardening and container gardening where the use of chemicals is avoided.

Thousands of houseplants are grown in indoor gardening. Typical houseplants include ferns, cactus, bonsai plants, daffodils, hyacinths, rose plants, rubber, Chinese evergreen, money plant, weeping fig, zebra plant, prayer plant, philodendrons, orchids, jade plant, African violets, English ivy, begonias etc.

Indoor gardening requires patience and continuous care to yield good results. The important factors in successful indoor gardening are light, watering, soil, plant pots, fertilisers and pesticides.

Light:
Light is very important for indoor plants as plants prepare food by photosynthesis. Two factors of light are intensity and duration. Different plants need different intensities. Duration of 8 to10 hours of sunlight is more than sufficient for the plants
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Watering:
Improper watering is the leading cause of death of plants in indoor gardening. Watering once a week is sufficient. Feel for dampness about an inch under the soil if the soil is damp do not water.

Soil:
Water drainage through soil is very important. Usually coir and peat are added in soil to improve drainage. Plants like cactus need very high drainage.

Humidity:
Plants roughly need a humidity of 80% RH. This can be achieved by placing a tray filled with pebbles and the water level just below the pebbles, adjacent to the plant.

Fertilisers:
Fertilisers contain phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. Changing the soil is better than adding feriliser.

Pesticides:
If the houseplants become affected by pests, use a garlic and chilli juice to spray on the plants, rather than using chemical pesticides.

Pots:
Pots of clay are preferred as they help in water drainage and aeration of soil better than glazed or plastic pots. Use correct sized pots as plants in pots that are too large are prone to root disease due to moisture retention. A small pot restricts the growth of plants. The pots need to be changed around once in two years.

Tools:
Investing in good tools is better in the long run, as the tools are used for tough jobs. Clean the tools thoroughly after use.

Indoor gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. It gives great satisfaction to see the plants growing, as well as improving the aesthic appeal and atmosphere of the interior.

The Enjoyment of House Plants

For more on Gardening visit gardening-club.info. Susan also enjoys writing at Education and Reference.

Indoor plant care information

What You Need to Know About Bonsai Gardening!

Indoor plant care information

Indoor Gardening Containers

2010-04-11T03:26:00.000-07:00

For years people have been gardening in containers, mostly because they lacked space. For some it was because they lived in climates that wouldn't allow them to grow year round. Container gardens afford you the option of planting outside until the cold forces the container inside, next to a sunny window.
Most container gardens were planted by people that lived in apartments but still wanted the addition of color and the feeling of accomplishment when seeing their plants grow. Big, beautiful showy flowers have a tranquil effect that soothes you at the end of a long day. Container gardening need not be limited to apartment gardening, everyone should have their own. Most certainly you don't have to stick to flowers in containers. You can grow vegetables and herbs in pots.

By adding garden pots it allows you to put spots of color around green shrubs or trees to brighten any corner of your yard. Placing containers filled with your favorite flower adds loads of appeal to a walkway or paved patio. The fun part of that is you can rotate the pots to different locations adding a new looks or colors with every move. Putting autumnal colored Mums in pots or spring tulips in a container allows you to landscape by season keeping your garden bright and interesting.

Your container can become a mini garden. For example when we lived in Pennsylvania our front yard screened us from the road with 10 feet tall evergreens. Although it was good for privacy, it made it very hard for guests to find our house. To fix this problem I purchased a half of a whisky barrel painted our name and street number on it and placed on the lawn at the end of the driveway. Then I filled it with some organic matter, planted bright red geraniums in the center and placed trailing ivy along the outer edges. Not only did it help our friends find us but the whole neighborhood used it when giving directions to their friends and family. Everyone would come up to us and say, "Never move that pot of flowers, it's our favorite landmark."

Don't limit yourself to a barrel, anything can be used, a watering can, an urn or big boldly colored ceramic pots, even a wheelbarrow. Use your imagination when it comes to the containers you will plant. A friend of mine would go to the Italian restaurants around town and ask them for their used large olive oil cans. She'd take them home and plant a bunch of mini gardens. This created an interesting and colorful spot unlike any in the neighborhood. She would plant herbs in some of them so this little garden had two uses.

For container gardening use a fast draining potting soil mixed with a little coarse sand. I always use pots with holes in the bottom to ensure good drainage. You may know exactly how much to water the plant but if you have a rainy spell it could be the demise of the mini garden that has no drainage system. Fertilize well and often, nutrients in a container can leech out.

Repotting will be necessary as the plants will become root bound as they thrive. Just go to the next size container and plant a new flower or herb in the original pot.

Go to your garden nursery center and look thru the selections. Choose plants that will harmonize and colors that go well together. Container Gardening is fun and easy and a great way to show off your handiwork.

Indoor Gardening Containers
This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and this resource box are unchanged. Copyright © Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at http://www.GardeningLandscapingTips.com, http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com, and http://www.GourmetChefAtHome.com

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What You Need to Know About Bonsai Gardening!

House Plants and Indoor Environment

2010-04-11T03:20:00.000-07:00

In many climates, it is extremely difficult to maintain an outdoor garden. If the temperatures are below freezing for a good portion of the year, it might be wise to bring your plants inside and start indoor gardening. Alternatively, you can do indoor gardening just to give your house a more natural feel, along with some nice decorations. Flowers blooming in your house add a lot to the décor, especially if you have the pride of having grown them yourself. If you are interested in starting to garden indoors, read on and find out some of the basics.

Some plants are simply not suited for growing in an indoor environment. If they take a large amount of water, then you will probably want to keep it outside. Watering a plant a lot, you can easily end up drowning it with too much water, or not giving it what it needs out of caution. So try to pick a plant that doesn’t require too much water. Another bad aspect of indoor gardening comes when a plant drops leaves or flowers all over your floors. Make sure you’re familiar with what the plant does during all seasons, so that you don’t end up with a huge mess on your floor.

Next you have to make sure that you will give the plant the attention it needs. Especially if you have many different plants across your house, it will be wise to set up a routine for watering. Figure out how often each plant needs watered, then color-code them with small tags or marks on the pot. Maybe you will water red tags once a week, and green tags will get watered every Tuesday and Thursday. It all depends on what types of plants you have. Just make sure you have some sort of system so that you will remember the individual needs of each plant.

The supplies are the final important part of indoor gardening. Naturally you will want pots that will blend in with your current décor. This will be fairly easy to accomplish. You can get ceramic pots, clay pots, metal pots, or wooden pots in any design. You can hang them from the ceiling, set them on tables, or place them in the corner. Just think about how big the plant is going to get, how fast it will get there, and what parts of your house need decoration. Indoor gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby, and fortunately it is easy to get started.

House Plants and Indoor Environment

Indoor plant care information

What You Need to Know About Bonsai Gardening!

House Plant Basics

2010-04-11T03:18:00.001-07:00

As house plants are living in an unnatural environment we need to give them extra care to get the best results.

They will require all the elements of outdoor plants in their need for good nutrients, water, ventilation, light and a suitable climate. Without this balance they will soon wither and die. It is vitally important that they have the best quality soil. As with outdoor plants they will need soil that is light enough for their roots and to hold water and air but not so light as to allow the nutrients to wash through and not be made available for their roots.

One thing that will not be as much of a concern as outdoor plants is their need for support against winds. This can allow you to use lighter soil however you will still need to ensure the plant is getting the nutrients. This might require additional feeding that is over and above what you would give an outdoor plant.

The environment can also affect plants, and anyone who is smoking in the house will affect the plant growth and result in poor health just as it does to the person smoking. You can buy inexpensive moisture monitoring kits and also some small units that will release water into the soil when it detects that the moisture is getting too low.

Potting mix is readily available and in different varieties to suit the requirements of various indoor plants.Getting good potting mix for your indoor plants can make a noticeable difference to their condition as the soil that we get from outside can sometimes have diseases or insects in it.

If there is an opportunity to do so, it is a good policy to put the plants outside in the sun for a few hours and also to get some fresh air. Plants will also benefit from having their leaves cleaned, as there can be a buildup of dust when growing indoors and not having the rainfall to wash them clean.

It is also good to catch rainwater in containers to use for watering your indoor plants.

House Plant Basics

Indoor plant care information

What You Need to Know About Bonsai Gardening!

Feeding or fertilizing indoor plants

2009-07-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Feeding or fertilizing indoor plants can be a fairly controversial topic. There are those that think indoor plants should be fed every other week. Some feel that you just should not bother, some advise every 6 months, and on and on. So, everyone has their own idea as to just what is best - but what about the newcomer to indoor gardening?

Firstly there is, in fact, a problem with people over feeding their plants. Too much fertilizer, and certainly, the wrong fertilizer can have devastating results. Too much, will result in the burning of a plant's roots. Just over-feeding can result in a house plant producing far too much growth. Although that sounds like a good thing, in fact it is quite the opposite. Over-abundant growth results in a sappy, weak plant, far more susceptical to damage and insect attack. Let us not forget that too much growth means you are going to have to repot your plants more often, as they becomes unmanagable in their current pots.

Let us take the middle road.

Personally, I feed 1 teaspoon, every 6 months with a readily available, slow release fertilizer, specifically for indoor plants, just on top of the soil. It's the one with all the shiny little beads. very easy to apply and no odour - a consideration with plants that are indoors. I soak each potted plant in a weak solution of either worm juice that I produce myself, or seaweed solution - every TWO WEEKS.

Let me clarify this, the slow release fertilizer is the big guns and all that is really necessary. The worm juice or seaweed solution, is a tonic which addresses the overall health of the plants by providing those essential trace elements not readily available in commercial products. The application of the tonic into my indoor plant routine, is a significant one, mainly because the results are notable. I have indeed often made comparison tests with and without the tonics, either of them - purely when I need to shut some doubting client up, whinging about the very small additional cost. I also give all plants a burst with the hose on high pressure spray, just to remove any dust and freshen them up a bit, so really it's a bit of a wash. After they have dried off a bit, all plants are given a spray with a weak solution of tonic via a hand-held mister, or atomiser. This is a fortnightly event, that I always perform outside, generally in the shade or broken sunlight, and all plants tend to spend about 12 hours outside.

When there is a large number of plants and sufficient available space, I will use a rotational method where I double up all the plants. This then allows me to have those plants that I have watered and washed,etc, to spend an entire week outside - the following week, I swap them with the one's inside. This does require more work on my part, but also affords me two major pluses. The whole process can be done without having to worry about making a mess with water, maintenance can be carried out on the plants, such as pruning and any pest spraying, re-potting, etc - and the results are un-beatable.

The previously mentioned tonics are the only concessions to organic gardening that I will make with indoor plants. I have often been asked about using compost for potting up house plants, and I advise against it. With good reason. For starters, compost, unless it is well aged, will continue to decompose and ultimately the soil in the pot looks like it has disappeared, leaving the plant without enough material to either hang on to, nor feed from. Also, compost can harbour a great many nasties. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and seeds, not to mention live creatures - limited only to the imagination.
Commercial potting mixes, are aged and sterilized. Therefore the soil will not continue to decompose, at any noticable rate, and there will be no critters, nor pathogens.

As we can see there is more than meets the eye, when you begin feeding your indoor plants.

The feeding and or fertilizing of indoor plants, is more than just a matter of set and forget, if you want results that make a difference.