The greener lifestyle has elevated our perception of decor and practicality. And now, space, or lack of, is not a problem, starting a garden is the same with or without a backyard. Here are some guidelines for different gardens you can plant anywhere you like.
Locate an area in your home where there is a good amount of sunlight available to expose your plant to or not, depending on the necessary shade and lighting it requires, to its shine. For better control and constant access to the necessary sunlight, purchase an artificial light. Also, evaluate the surroundings, can you hang on the walls pots, or do you prefer to place your plants on a table? When identifying the area, looks for potential threats such as pets and wondering guests.
Common areas to garden include porches, balconies, and regular indoor roofs with the installment of terrariums. As well as, entryways, windows, kitchens, and living rooms. But, any spot with sunlight and the correct attention and care will be equally successful at growing lovely, healthy plants for the garden of your dreams.
Essential materials to have include a container, soil, seeds, water, and artificial light (if needed). There is a neat variety of containers available from ceramic, plastic, and biodegradable pots to reused cans, bottles, and other miscellaneous containers, at home. Soil isn’t just dirt with nutrients, and there are different types of soils available. For example, there is clay, sandy, silts, and loams with their difference being the size of the particle, and hence how cramped they are, loam is recommended for most plants. Loam has three important nutrients needed for healthy soil and humus. To enrich your soil, you can compost food, manure, and fallen leaves.
Artificial lights are very helpful and needed to complete the necessary six to eight hours of sunlight most plants require. Since seasons change, it’s important to maintain a steady cycle to maximize your plant’s growth and harvest. Some of the most commonly used lights are fluorescent, incandescent, LED, haloge, and horticultural grow lights. Fluorescent lights are the most economical, and LEDs are the energy-efficient option.
Vegetable, fruit, flower, or everything garden? If veggies and herbs capture your interest, Country Living suggests planting scallions, radishes, micro-greens, spinach, tomatoes, and many others. These are great options for beginners and people who have limited spacing for their garden. It’s pretty and useful to have a vast array of greens to compliment any dish; it looks good and saves money.
If flowers bloom your interest, these are some easy and beautiful options: Geranium, Golden Pothos, Jasmin, and Peace Lily. Flowers also serve a comestible treat, you can make tea with the leaves, like Jasmin, chamomile and green leaves, or mint, which is a common garment, as well.
Fruits are the best of both worlds, you can make a tea out of their leaves and eat their harvest as a whole. Plus, they smell delicious. Easy indoor or small spaced fruits to plant include the following: lemons, oranges, apricots, strawberries, and more; side note, citrusy plants need from eight to twelve hours of sunlight, so place them near a window to receive direct sunshine.
When indoors or in tight spaces, it’s best to grow each plant independently. The amount of space a plant needs to grow is different. When sprouting, you may use any sized container, then augment its size while the plant grows. Repotting is also recommended to keep your plants healthy. When repotting, choose a height or two bigger than what it had previously.
To plant you’ll do the following: wash the pot or container, add the soil a little more than half and add a bit of water to damp it, add the seeds or if replanting, set the plant as deep as it previously was, cover the seed with an inch of soil or gently surround the plant. Then, water, and finally, smile at your job well done.
To protect your plants against pests it’s important to turn to insecticides, when needed. Yet, to protect shouldn’t mean to contaminate the plants with harmful chemicals, that’s why it’s better to invest in natural insecticides. Angie’s List recommends the following alternatives: soapy water, herbal water spray, beer, garlic, and pepper spray. Soapy water is good to get rid of spiders, herbal water to repel bugs (also works if you grow them near the plant), beer protects the leaves, garlic repels, and pepper gets rid of mites.
A nature-conscious way to obtain fertilizers is by having your own compost. My Move presents various types of odorless composts bins you can integrate into your home garden. These include countertop “scarps” bins, under-counter bins, which are great for later transporting the material into a larger bin. Then there is the Bokashi system that includes the integration of microorganisms to decompose the food, the Aerobic bins, and worm bins.
Composting is good for the environment because it reduces waste by recycling kitchen and yard waste, keeping the soil rich and eliminating the amount of waste that goes to landfills. It is also a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and save you money while taking care of your plants.
Some plants don’t need the standard rich soil to grow. If you live in a place with sandy ground, the soil tends to be more acidic, which is ideal for plants like the camellia, azalea, and gorse. But, if you would like to plant other rich soil plants, just add basic topsoil to the mix. Gravel is fairly common, and when taken care of adequately, it can become a lovely Mediterranean style garden. Some of the best plants for graveled soil are lavender, euphorbias, Cistus, Santolina, and Phlomis.
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