Indoor Greenhouse Gardening For Beginners

For any gardener who enjoys working with their plants, a greenhouse is a welcome addition to expand their hobby. Greenhouse gardening can be as intensive or as low-key as you want it to be, depending on how much gardening you do and how much money you want to invest in the hobby. Serious gardeners wishing to expand their interest into greenhouse gardening may opt for a permanent structure in their backyard, possibly something that incorporates a cement foundation, integrated doors and windows, and an auto-venting system for temperature control. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the beginning gardener or hobby horticulturist who wishes to cultivate plants indoors during the winter months or start seeds indoors in the spring for a head start on the summer growing season. This more basic form of greenhouse gardening will be our focus for this article.

Basic greenhouse gardening usually begins indoors with a temporary structure that can be set up when it’s needed and taken down when it’s not. An inexpensive shelving kit will work well for this purpose, provided you have space to set it up. Other structures could be a tabletop that’s not in use or an old workbench. If you are purchasing something new for the purpose of indoor gardening, look for a structure that’s lightweight and that can be easily disassembled for storage. Consider buying plastic, if you have the option, so that you can easily wipe away any dirt or water that accumulates.

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Next, you’ll need to look around your home and determine where the shelf or table will be placed. If you have a sunny window that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily, this is ideal. Warm, sunny bay windows facing the west or south will usually meet the criteria. If you don’t have such a window, then you’ll need to consider using a grow light. This will require a special light bulb that gives off a full spectrum of light similar to the sun’s rays. While the light cast from these bulbs certainly won’t look like natural sunlight to your eyes, to the plants, it is virtually the same. Grow lights can usually be purchased quite inexpensively from home improvement stores or garden centers, and can then be screwed into your own light fixture at home.

When setting up a grow light, it’s important to suspend the light as close as possible to the plants. Particularly if you are using the light to start seeds, you’ll want to place the light within an inch or two of the seedlings themselves. If you place the light too far away, the seedlings will grow tall and spindly instead of strong and stocky.

An indoor greenhouse can feature a vinyl cover to help retain heat or moisture, or you can simply use the indoor environment of your home as the greenhouse environment. Ideal temperatures will range from 75 to 85 degrees, so choose a room of your house that is warmer than others. If you’re using a grow light instead of a sunny window, you won’t be as limited to the possible locations you can choose from your plants. If you’re using a grow light and trying to determine a warm location in your house, consider an upstairs room and/or a high up location in the room, vertically speaking, such as on top of a high shelf or a tall cabinet. Heat rises, so the highest place in your home should also be the one with the highest temperature.

If you’re a beginning gardener interested in greenhouse gardening, don’t be intimidated to give it a try. Getting started indoors is easy and doesn’t cost a lot of money. With a little time and a minimal investment, you can expand your gardening hobby, grow more plants, and give your green thumb a workout during cooler months!

Ellen Bell works for Home Products ‘n’ More, an online retail store offering indoor greenhouse kits and other great greenhouse gardening products to help you get started. Visit us at http://www.homeproductsnmore.com/Greenhouse_Supplies_s/2504.htm

Indoor Gardening For the Beginner

Indoor gardening originally consisted of only about two or three different plants when it began during the Victorian Era. The people who started indoor gardening probably had the money to purchase hibiscus and palms and would place them in their living rooms or sitting rooms, but mainly the rooms that were used for entertaining. Soon after this era many people did not want to be bothered with living indoor plants, so the tradition was lost.

In the 1970′s indoor gardening was brought back into existence but the houseplants were usually foliage type such as spider plants, ferns, and ivies. Today we have much more of a variety of plants to choose and many of them include some beautiful flowering houseplants. The African violet, begonia, bougainvillea, gardenia, geranium, and orchid are some of the most popular plants we use for indoor gardening. They not only bring in some color to the home but also some fragrant scents as well.

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Most of your home and garden centers, garden nurseries, and commercial greenhouses will let you know what type of potting mix to use, what type of light exposure they need and how often you need to water them. Once you have that information you will probably only need a few indoor gardening tips to keep everything going smoothly.

The common houseplants have a lifespan just as we do. If some of your plants seem to be struggling a little and they have been around a long time, it is probably time to replace them with new ones. You do need to be careful if you have unhealthy indoor plants because they will attract insects and disease and pass them on to all your healthy plants.

The potting mix you want to use for your indoor plants should be made up of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. These mixes are soilless mixes; they will absorb moisture very well but will also dry out very quickly. They do not contain nutrients, so supplementing with fertilizer on a consistent basis will be very helpful. Soilless mixes are considered to be sterile so you should not have any problems with diseases or pests.

Humidity and temperature are also an important factor. If the plants you have were in their own natural environment the difference in temperature between day and night is about 10 degrees F. You should supply them the same type of environment inside your home. Indoor garden plants prefer the humidity to be about 50 percent or higher but if the indoor air is any dryer than 35 or 40 percent water will not be able to penetrate through their roots. The humidity in the winter is usually very low so misting your houseplants will help them survive.

When it comes time to watering your indoor garden be sure to soak the root ball until water seeps out the bottom. When this happens you can be sure that the entire root system has gotten plenty of moisture. Over-watering will kill most indoor plants more than anything else; it is best to check the soil first before watering, if you check down 1/2 inch to 1 inch deep and it is dry they will need watering.

Most of your flowering plants and some foliage plants need to be placed about three feet from a south facing window. During the winter months you want to move your plants closer to the window. Most of your houseplants do better with 12 to 16 hours of light every day, during the winter you may need to use grow lights to substitute for the lack of sunlight.

Barbara has tried indoor gardening with many different houseplants and finds it to be very enjoyable. She has more interesting thoughts and ideas regarding gardening and gardening supplies at her website Gardeners Garden Supplies. So you are welcome to come for a visit.

Turning to Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is a chemical-free and earth-friendly method of gardening. Organic gardening and conventional gardening differ on how they control pests and nourish the soil. Conventional gardening uses chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers while organic gardens use organic means of enriching the soil and organic weed killers and fertilizers.

Organic gardens follow natural practices that include:

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Organic Soil: Quality soil is the main component of creating a successful garden. By providing nourishing natural substances to the soil, you will be well on your way to growing healthy plants and vegetables. For an organic garden, it is essential to add natural additives such as organic compost, manure, chopped leaves, and mulches. Before adding natural compounds, you should do a soil test to determine whether the soil has any mineral deficiencies. To improve the quality of the soil, you can add a number of natural products that are rich in nutrients. Natural additives can include organic compost, fish emulsion, and blood meal. If you do not have the time to make your own natural soil feed, there are many natural products available for purchase. Such products that are rich in nutrients include seaweed meal, straw mulch, and worm casts. Making worm compost is a great way to compost organic waste

Organic Pest Control: Every garden will attract pests that will eat some of the plants and vegetables. Conventional gardens use pesticides to control pests. These pesticides contain chemicals that are harmful to the environment, humans, and animals. Attracting or buying bugs that will eat pests such as aphids will help reduce their numbers. Bugs that kill aphids include damsel bugs, lady bugs, and lacewings, and more. There are also organic pest control products on the market. Homemade tomato leaf and garlic sprays will also repel aphids.

Diversifying your garden will help reduce pests. Planting strong smelling herbs will repel plant eating bugs. Birds and insects that feed on aphids will also be attracted to a diverse garden and will reduce pests that harm your plants. To control weeds, there are number of organic weed control products on the market. Removing weeds daily is the best way to control weed infestation.

Crop Rotation: To maintain rich and healthy soil, it is recommended that you rotate your crops. Crop Rotation involves planting crops so that plants and vegetables are not grown in the same spot each year. This will ensure that the soil does not lose its nutrients. It will also reduce the risk of disease. The nutrients left behind from one set of plants can be used by another type of plant the next year. The best way to rotate your crops is to draw a map of the garden that outlines where each plant is located. You can then refer to it the following year to make sure you do not plant the same type of plant in the same location. Crop rotation and growing diverse plants will help deter pests. The benefit of organically enriching your soil, using organic pest control, and rotating your crops ensures a healthy garden. This method will also attract bees which will result in pollination of the plants.

The biggest difference between organic gardening and conventional gardening is that organic gardens do not use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Successful organic gardening can be achieved by understanding how to create organically productive soil that is rich and fertile, the type of crops to plant that includes the appropriate plants for the particular climate and season, and implementing organic maintenance practices.

Because of the illnesses and diseases such as cancer that are now being linked to chemicals in fertilizers and pesticides, more people are turning to organic gardening. Developing an organic garden may seem like a bit of hard work, but the reward of creating a healthy garden will be very gratifying.

Organic gardening guide features tips and solutions to common garden issues – Redenta’s is committed to a natural and sustainable approach to organic gardening and organic gardening