Essentials about Indoor Gardening

You have surely met people who would put a false tree at the corner of the living room, put some fake plants on the window sill and dust the leaves every now and then. They call it indoor gardening. In reality, this is far from what true indoor gardening is all about, as indoor gardening as a concept, has moved away for a long time now. Other than beautifying your home by lending a ‘natural’ look indoor plants also cleanse the atmospheric air. This they do by sucking up all the carbon dioxide and other pollutants and toxins floating in the air. Thus indoor gardening has its health benefits too.

There are a couple of points you have to take into consideration when choosing the indoor plants for your home:

- Are they adaptable to the environment and atmosphere in your house?

- Will it take a lot of time and effort to maintain this indoor plant?

- How much light does it need to survive and thrive?

- How much money am I going to spend to develop my indoor garden?

If you are starting on a low budget, your best choice is to start with seeds or cuttings. If you have a bit more money to spend, then go for plants which have already grown. The other important consideration is to decide whether you want a plant to display throughout the year or only part of the season. Indoor gardens with herbal plants are good as they are not only good looking but are sometimes edible too. Herbs grow very fast and you do not have to wait for long before you see results. Chives, dill, sage, thyme, and oregano are some of the popular herbs which people grow indoors.

Your personal experience in gardening or even indoor gardening is a critical factor for consideration before choosing plants for your indoor garden. Some plants are strong and do not die easily. Perhaps these are the plants you should choose if you are a ‘greenhorn’. Few of the hardy plants are: Fatsia, Cyperus, Scandens, Popular Succulents, Coleus, and Bromeliads.

Some of the maintenance rules are different for indoor plants from outdoor gardening. The main reason for this difference is that outdoor plants are exposed to sunlight and indoor plants may not get adequate amount of natural light. The solution lies in proper lighting. When you buy a plant that has already grown, you will need to make it get used to your home and the light it receives in its new place of residence. When you get such a plant, make sure that you rotate the plant which will trigger and maintain an upright growth.

One point to remember for indoor plants is that they also need adequate water to grow and thrive. How much water is ‘adequate’ is determined by the variety of plant you have chosen. When watering the plants, make sure that the water is properly drained out of the pot. The temperature of water must be the same as the room in which the plant is in. special attention must be give to the temperature in your home for proper growth of indoor plants. While a 10 to 15 degree variation can not harm any plant but frequent temperature fluctuations may cause damage.

The difficulty level or the level of ease, which ever perspective you view it from, indoor gardening is quite the same as outdoor gardening. One of the biggest advantages of indoor plants is that you do not have to worry too much about garden pests, etc. You are also spared of the usual tension of high winds and frost which can severely damage any outdoor garden.