Indoor Gardening? There are many reasons to consider indoor gardening.

photo credit: Hair Squared

I have been an avid outdoor gardener for many years but each year I find myself growing more plants indoors. For me a short growing climate, weather concerns and the fact I like to be surrounded by living plants has lead to this change.

I also find indoor gardening easier in many ways.

For those who in cities and have limited space the indoor garden is a perfect solution gardening. And it’s a proven fact that plants help clean and purifies air adding health and less stress into many peoples lives.

Some plants are low maintenance and require little light, while others will need constant care. So choosing the amount of time you want to spend on plants will be an important consideration. And remember, all plants require watering and fertilizing.

Indoor growing considerations

First, identify the lighting conditions in each of the rooms where you plan to grow plants. Mark each room as either dim, bright direct or bright indirect. Then, for each room, consider only plants that thrive in that lighting condition.

Palm plants will require direct light, herbs and vegetables grow in bright sunlight, and bamboo plants can grow in dark indoor conditions. With the wide variety of plants and lighti9ng that can be added to the home, it is now possible to grow almost any plant.

photo credit: stevecadman

Temperature and moisture as the next most important factors after lighting. If the temperature of your indoor space ranges from 65 to 80 F, you should only consider plants that thrive within this temperature range. You also need to check for drafts. Many plants will not handle a draft or cold wind.

Look at the space you have available. Some plants vary in height from a few inches to several feet. Fortunately, you can control the height of the plant by the size of the pot. Use small pots to restrict plant growth. And you may want to look into vertical growing or growing walls.

I have seen growing walls that add light, color and even seem to add additional space in a room. Vertical growing makes the most out of available space and has numerous growing advantages.

One overlooked area in plant care is the needs of your favorite plants. Besides watering, most plants need fertilizing, trimming, repotting  and often leaf picking.

I had absolutely no luck growing African Violets until my neighbor told me they need and thrive in northern lighting. I switched my plants location and the plants grew beautifully!

photo credit: Bitman

And last but not least, buy plants that are either practical or appealing to you. If a plant isn’t aesthetically pleasing, consider growing a vegetable that you can eat. Many vegetable and herb plants are beautiful.

Indoor gardening is an area that I will being using more, both for flowers and vegetables. I plan to use container gardening, vertical gardening, small space gardening ideas and greenhouse gardening. I also hope to try a little hydroponic gardening methods.

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I plan on doing a lot more indoor gardening this year. One reason is home grown food is healthier and my produce will have no chemicals and the other reason is our summer was pretty much non-existent and my garden was reduces in size to deal with the weather.

photo credit: Handolio

So I am not burned out on gardening this year and there are areas I want to experiment in. One area is small space gardening techniques, growing a variety of plants in a small space to see exactly what I can successfully grow.

Another area is hydroponic gardening.

When I first read about hydroponic gardening I was put off on this style of gardening. The list of chemical made me think the food would be toxic! But as I read more these are chemicals in the soil and are needed to grow. We also need these chemicals in our systems to be healthy.

So this winter I will be experimenting in different styles on hydroponic gardening. Vertical gardening, growing walls and greenhouse hydroponic will all be in the plan.

photo credit: _foam

So if you are a pro in hydroponic gardening join in and offer suggestions.

And if you are a novice, like me, be prepared for an adventure.

In the next few weeks you will see a lot of articles by guest writers who know about this topic than I do. And hopefully in the late winter and spring I will have a wonderful garden to show off.

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Normally, when individuals decide to begin hydroponic gardening, they will set up a system wherever they have some additional space, such as the basement. Obviously, though, most folks aren’t interested in letting their hydroponic garden invade their homes!

photo credit: _foam

That’s why many individuals who are committed to hydroponics will look into purchasing or constructing a greenhouse.

Growing your plants in a greenhouse is preferable in many ways to just setting them up in an unused area of your home. You’ll find that if you have your garden inside a greenhouse it’s much simpler to create an environment which will permit it to thrive.

Temperature, ventilation and lighting are all easier to control. As well, you need lots of room in order to install the irrigation and lighting systems that are needed for hydroponic gardening. You can install this equipment precisely where you need it in a greenhouse. Controlling the water and lighting are more imperative in a hydroponics garden compared to a normal garden.

Lighting is in fact the main reason why a greenhouse is so ideal for a hydroponic garden. When you grow plants hydroponically, it is vital that they get adequate amounts of light. But it is also important to remember that too much direct light allows algae to grow and that is not useful.

In a greenhouse setting, daylight is filtered and diffused naturally. It’s even possible to regulate the lighting level and angle of sunlight with blinds or shutters. Less energy consumption is another advantage as you won’t need to continually run the hydroponic lights.

When you have a greenhouse, you’ll see that the system for providing nutrients to your plants is less difficult to set up and maintain. This is vital to how well your hydroponic specimens grow and thrive. When plants grow in solution rather than the ground, the pH content can change more rapidly.

There will be great variations in alkaline and acid levels because it’s all dependent on the water. With a greenhouse, it’s not difficult to implement an automated system of pH control, which gives you a break from forever checking the levels.

The temperature reading is also imperative in terms of hydroponic gardening. You’ll be able to keep heaters at bay when a greenhouse is well built as it does a decent job at maintaining the temperature.

This is particularly useful if you live somewhere that gets cold but has plenty of sun. You can also install air vents and fans to regulate the temperature in your greenhouse even more exactly.

There is a good selection of greenhouses kits to be found, however you can also build one yourself from scratch. The scope of the available models and sizes is quite large. Should your hydroponic garden become larger you can add on to a number of the greenhouse packages that are available. As you can see, many worthwhile factors exist for using a greenhouse for hydroponic gardening.

Hydroponics is an increasingly popular technique for year-round, indoor gardening. Find out more at Hydroponic Gardening.

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