Since the pandemic began, garden supply stores have done better than many other retail businesses. It is clear why this is happening: We are seeing the fragility of our food supply chain for the first time in many of our lives.
Food insecurity has been on the rise lately, causing many people to start “victory gardens” or food gardens to ensure they have a reliable food supply. During a highly stressful period, more people than ever have taken up gardening as a way of supporting their mental and physical health.
But outdoor gardening isn’t always possible. Not everyone is lucky enough to have an outdoor space where they can grow their own food. A lot of city dwellers don’t own any land where they could plant seeds. They are often too tiny to justify the time and expense involved in growing your own. Suburban lawns are not ideal for growing food crops because they are usually too shady and small. Municipal ordinances or homeowners association rules may prohibit anything other than lawns and flower beds in front yards.
Climate may also be an issue. You may not be able to grow the kinds of food you like eating depending on where you live (whether it’s too hot or too cold). If your region has a short growing season with not enough daily hours of sun, crops may not reach full maturity. Your region may have to deal with drought, flooding, or both.
Global climate change has had an impact on the types of pests and diseases that are seen in gardens around the world. Fire ants are more active in warmer weather and their bites can sting and itch for days. They are increasingly moving northward and westward in the US for the past decade.
If you want to grow your own food despite any of these obstacles, you may want to start an indoor garden. No, I would not suggest dumping large quantities of topsoil and compost onto your living room floor. The size and complexity of indoor gardens can be customized to your liking. There are many benefits to eating locally grown produce, including providing you and your family with fresh food.
Why Start an Indoor Garden?
First of all, indoor gardening is just fun. If you want your kids to be excited about healthy food, incorporated them in your meal prep. Ron Finley states that when children grow kale, they are more likely to eat it. He believes that watching a seed grow into a plant will make children want to take care of nature.
You have a childlike side to you as well. You can get just as excited about indoor gardening as an actual child. You might enjoy trying out new foods and new methods of growing food. If you don’t have the physical strength, energy, and mobility required for outdoor gardening, you can still enjoy the experience of growing food in your own home. An extra advantage of indoor gardening is that you don’t have to deal with insect bites and damage from pests that is common with outdoor gardening. And weeding is more or less unnecessary.
Indoor gardening give you more control over the climate, allowing you to grow a wider variety of fruits and vegetables. You can grow food indoors that you wouldn’t be able to find at your local supermarket or farmers market for much of the year. You can control what goes into your homegrown produce, so you can be sure it is organic, does not contain GMOs, is fresh, and has come from a local source. The plants on your kitchen windowsill are the most convenient to access and visible, so you’re more likely to use them often. This technique is especially helpful with fresh herbs. By growing them in a small space, you can provide big flavor and many health benefits.
Setting Up Your Indoor Garden
Now that you’re ready to get started, let’s get down to business. To set up an indoor garden, you need a place to put the garden, planting containers, potting mix, plants, and a source of light.
First, find a place to put your plants. You could clear a table, a windowsill, one side of a hallway, or an entire corner of a room. If you’re limited on space, go for a plant stand that can hold multiple pots vertically. How much space you need to grow your plants depends on the type of plants and how many you want to grow. The amount of space you have will partly determine what plants you choose and how many you want. You might need to use more than one surface or location in your home.
The main thing about plants is that they grow by taking in sunlight and turning it into energy. In other words, they photosynthesize. This means that your indoor plants should get a lot of sun during the day. If there is no sunlight available from windows or skylights, you will need to set up some grow lights.
In addition, you will want to keep your plants out of the way of rambunctious pets and small, adventurous children, as they can be easily injured or killed.
Indoor Gardening Supplies
Gardening Containers
Gardening in containers is the best way to avoid shoveling piles of dirt onto your hardwood, linoleum, or carpeted floors. You don’t have to use classic flower pots from garden supply stores, there are other options. Some other materials you can use for planting are old aluminum baking pans, large plastic tubs, or kitchen pots and pans. The two requirements for a planter are that it holds the soil, and has enough holes (or can have enough holes added) on the bottom to allow for proper drainage. You should use a drainage saucer to catch water that flows through the holes.
The size of the pots you use will depend on what you’re growing. Oregano and basil only need an 8 to 10 inch pot, while a dwarf citrus tree may require a 5 to 15 gallon container. The size of the pot should correspond to the size of the plant. This may require some moving to larger and larger containers as your little green friend grows.
Indoor Gardening For Beginners: Basics You Should Know
How Do Plants Grow?
The most common way to get a plant is to either buy it from a store or get it from someone else who already has a fully grown plant. We will discuss how to care for adult plants later, but let’s start with the seeds.
Growing a plant from seed is a special process that is made simple with some indoor gardening tips.
Stages of Plant Growth
Each stage requires different amounts of water, light, and nutrients. Every plant has different water, light, and nutrient requirements during its various life stages. We don’t usually think about them a lot. sticking a seed in a pot and having a plant appear is ____________. There are different needs at each stage which should be met.
Seed
The seed itself is a fascinating thing. Inside one tiny seedshell is everything a plant needs to get started and to keep it going until it can form its own roots.
A seed has three key components: the seed coat, the endosperm, and the embryo.
All we can see when we look at a seed is the seed coat. This thick exterior provides protection for the future plant.
The endosperm provides all of the plant’s nutrition at first. The seed coat is a layer of tissue that covers the embryo in most seeds. It provides sustenance that is easily accessible to the embryo. Endosperms aren’t just for plants, we eat them too! If you’ve had popcorn or white rice, you’ve eaten endosperms, which are the starchy inner parts of grains.
Finally, there’s the embryo itself. There are three main parts to an embryonic plant: the roots, the cotyledon, and the embryonic leaves. All of these things are hidden inside the small seed.
We all know what roots are, of course. The cotyledon is an external food source for the plant once it emerges from the seed, and the embryonic leaves are usually the first two leaves that appear.
If you store your seeds in a dry and airtight location, they will not move on to future phases until the conditions are right. Seeds can remain capable of germination for years, although the endosperm will gradually become less nourishing over time and reduce the rate of germination.
Germination
The process of germination is when the seed breaks out of its casing and starts to grow. Two conditions need to be met for a seed to germinate:
- Water. Seeds soak up water and rehydrate, which triggers the growth process.
- Warmth. Different plants require different levels of heat to germinate properly. If it’s too cold or too hot, the seed will decide to stay dormant.
It can take a few days to a few weeks for a seed to germinate, depending on the plant. Here’s what can inhibit germination:
- Planting the seeds too deeply. Make sure to follow the instructions with your seeds and don’t just throw any amount of soil on your plants. Some seeds can be placed on top of the soil. Others want to be under the soil’s surface.
- Poor quality seeds. Seed manufacturers have to test their seeds for germination rates to ensure they aren’t selling a bunch of duds. Stick with organic and non-GMO seed distributors to ensure the highest quality. And if you have leftover seeds from a previous season, test a small handful of the seeds – if they germinate well, then go for it.
- Too much or too little water. Most seeds like evenly-moist soil to sprout in. If it’s too dry, they’re not going to germinate. Too much water can actually drown the young plant!
The seed germinates and starts to grow, using the endosperm as its source of food. The root sends a support system into the ground to allow it to grow further and draw nutrients from the soil.
Vegetation
Now that the seedling has grown its roots downward to absorb soil nutrients, it needs to stretch its leaves to the sky so it can start gathering sunlight to produce the energy it needs.
During the vegetative stage of growth, plants use stem, branch and leaf area to produce more leaves in order to reach light areas. They grow more leaves and bigger leaves so that they have a greater surface area to absorb light.
Plants need nitrogen to produce chlorophyll, which allows the plant to absorb energy from light. Would you believe that the green color in most plants comes from chlorophyll?
Reproduction
The phase in which a plant flowers or produces seeds is characterized by a shift in the plant’s energy away from growth and towards reproduction. reproduction, phosphorous is critical for flowering or fruit growth.
This phase can be triggered by a change in the amount of daylight. Plants are sensitive to changes in the length of day and night, and this sensitivity is called photoperiodism.
Plants notice light, but they cannot determine where it comes from. Artificial lighting can be used to control the growth of plants indoors by regulating the length of the day that the plant is exposed to light. As long as there’s light that’s similar to natural sunlight, your plant will grow.
At this point, you will witness pollination occurring, which is when plants begin to generate seeds and propagate. If you maintain an indoor garden that depends on pollination, you will need to pollinate the plants yourself.
While cotton swabs are the most popular way to do this, some people use brushes. Gently brush the interior of the flower and then move on to the next one. Although it’s not difficult, you don’t need to do it to plants you don’t want to fruit or that you’re not collecting seeds from.
Dormancy
Perennial plant growers know that dormancy is a natural process where the plant essentially takes a winter nap. Annual plants don’t have a seed dormancy stage in their lifecycle, but it’s still good to know about this stage of the plant lifecycle. During this stage, a plant can hold off on its growth until the surrounding environment becomes more ideal for growth.
This can be thought of as a type of hibernation during the winter months or during periods of summer heat. They may enter a period of dormancy in which they appear to be dying. However, they’re conserving energy until an opportune time. Smart little suckers right?
Dormancy is a natural process that happens when the seasons change and there are less hours of sunlight and colder temperatures. Dormancy in plants can also occur during the summer months for plants that thrive in cold temperatures. The plant will come back to life once the temperature decreases.
Indoor plants in the U.S. can have a winter dormancy period from December to February. Although it’s more work for us, thankfully summer-dormant plants seem to prefer our cooler temperatures indoors and may not go dormant at all.
Fertilizer and water should be withheld less during dormancy because the plants take up less during this time.
If your plants start to die when you give them less water and nutrients, then they are not going through a dormant period and you should treat them accordingly.
You have a good understanding of the stages of growth! Now that we know the basics of how a plant grows, let’s learn about some other critical aspects.
Leave a Reply