Archive for the ‘Indoor Garden’ Category

Each gardener has his own set of characteristics that make him fit for certain gardening styles. If you know yourself and the right gardening style that will fit your rearing of your organic garden and help you yield your vegetables effectively, then you have pretty much gotten an edge over other gardening enthusiasts. But what are the different types of gardening that you can look out for? Here are some of the types that you can consider:

Residential Gardening

This is the most common of all gardening techniques. If you are just a beginner and not yet inclined to produce vegetables for industrial reasons, then residential gardening is for you. The primary purpose of residential gardening is to sustain a family or two of a steady supply of vegetables and at the same time, render aesthetic appeal to your backyard.

Residential gardening does not require too much space. It can also be cultivated in window sills, balconies and other small areas that have sufficient light source, easy to monitor and at the same time, easy to maintain or free from pests. The good thing about residential gardening is the ease with which it ushers the gardening wannabe from having no knowledge of planting to expanding to other gardening styles, whichever deems the fancy of the budding gardener.

Specialized Gardening

Specialized gardening involves non-residential areas that are known for its green quality and are often marketed as such. Parks, botanical gardens, amusement parts and other tourist attractions fall under this category. Often a staff is required to maintain due to its size, so effective administrative skills on top of gardening expertise may be required. It is also tailored for delivering in profit to certain causes or organizations.
Impact Gardening
If you are up to the challenge of blocking weeds with minimal costs, then impact gardening is for you. It involves using a relatively small space and maximizing its gardening potential. The plants are often crowded together.

Indoor Gardening

Residential gardening is under the huge scope of indoor gardening. Other types under this category include the gardens of conservatories, greenhouses and academic institutions. Systems for heating and air conditioning may also be found for certain breeds of plants. If you are the type of gardener who really loves cultivating plants in and out of season, then indoor gardening is for you.

Water Gardening

If you want to garden with minimal supervision and love water organisms, then water gardening is for you. This is a bit of a challenge for most gardeners because it usually doesn't involve the initial conditions of other traditional gardening techniques. The novelty of water gardening appeals only to those who have ample water facilities to cultivate this type of gardening style.

Community Gardening

If you are motivated by group efforts, community gardening may be for you. It involves concentrated efforts of the different members of the community to be able to help make a greener place. It involves a huge scope, but the members of the community are given autonomy to style their areas in whichever way they choose.

Unless it is the middle of summer and there has not been enough rain, watering your outdoor plants is usually not necessary (or not very often).  But indoor plants rely on you as a source of water and extra nutrients in the form of fertilizer.  It is important to know the individual water and nutrient needs of each plant to keep them healthy.

As mentioned, individual plants will require different amounts of water to keep them growing optimally.  But what all plants do like is moist soil.  If you are worried about over-watering your plant, make sure that the pot you choose has a good drainage system.  With holes in the bottom of the pot or gravel inside the pot the soil and plant will soak up the necessary water and the excess will run out through the bottom.

If your houseplants are not thriving no matter what you do, there are two things to look into.  If you are using tap water to water your plants there may be too much chlorine or salt present.  A solution to this is to use distilled or filtered water or you can leave a container outside to collect rainwater.  Either option is acceptable and may be the change you need to make to grow healthier plants.

Choosing to fertilize your plants is another way to give them a boost.  Fertilizer contains nutrients and elements that plants need to grow.  Indoors plants do not need as much fertilizer as their outdoor counterparts do.  Because of a slower rate of growth, feed your plants minimal fertilizer.  In the winter time you can probably skip this step altogether.  The spring or summer time is the best time to fertilize indoor plants.  This is during their growing phase when they need the extra nutrients the most.

The requirements for plants are the same whether you are growing a garden traditionally or with a hydroponics method.  In hydroponics, the nutrients the plant would get from the soil are replaced by a growing medium that can be purchased at gardening supply stores.  The need for water and light is still just as important though.  Light can come from a natural source, an artificial source or a combination of the two.  Depending on the type of hydroponics system the method that your plant gets water will differ too.

In order to get the best results from your home-based hydroponics garden, find a south-facing window to give the plants the best natural light.  If this isn’t possible, you can purchase special lights that are specifically designed for plants.  Instead of using a fluorescent light, buy what is known as a discharge light.  This imitates the light the plants would naturally get from the sun and will produce healthier and hardier plants.

The water that the root system is growing in needs to be healthy water full of nutrients and this can be determined by checking the pH level (it should be a pH level of 6).  The pH level should be checked on a regular basis to ensure it is not too acidic or alkaline.  If the reading is too high, add small amounts of vinegar and keep re-testing until you can the reading you want.  If the water reading has a pH level that is too low, use the same procedure to raise the pH level except use baking soda instead of vinegar.

By growing your plants with hydroponics, you will see faster and more abundant growth.  The method that the plants get their nutrients is more efficient and results in robust and prolific plants – whether they are houseplants, vegetable plants, or herbs.