Indoor Gardening Part I

As someone who is relatively sure they suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) but has never actually been diagnosed, I have gone through many yearly obsessions in the winter at a desperate attempt of keeping my mind off how vitamin D deprived I am. Most recently: indoor hydroponic gardening. Last winter, I probably spent roughly $200.00 on plants; desperately trying to cling to summer and bring some green back into my life. Needless to say, they all died because I did no research on plants beforehand and I just assumed that if you water them, they will grow. It turns out that plants require a lot more attention than that.

This year, I am determined to successfully grow an indoor garden. I will also be happy to share my results, both failures and victories, with you, the people of our newsletter! The more I look into hydroponic gardening, the more I realize that buying a hydroponic system is impossible unless you have lots of extra cash laying around; which I do not.

The other option to buying is building your own. This method is more time consuming but it’s about 1/8^th the price and it works just as well if you build it properly. Explaining the technicalities would probably take up 3 newsletters, so I’m including a link here that will take you to an incredibly helpful website. This website has information on everything hydroponic from the basics of building your own system to proper plant care that ensures your garden will flourish.

Since I lack the money and the time to build or buy my own hydroponic garden, I’m attempting the next best thing: a simple garden that isn’t so much a “garden” as it is a clump of potted plants all placed together in a gardenesque way. It will look something like this:

These “corner gardens” can be placed anywhere in your house, preferably by a window. If you lack window space, you can also buy a full-spectrum light bulb from any local greehouse. I buy mine from Sunnyside Greehouse located at 3439 69 Street NW, Calgary. Just go in an ask where you can find a full-spectrum light bulb for growing plants indoors; these light bulbs produce all the same rays that plants need from the sun.To start one of these gardens, it is important to research plants first and find out which ones work best for the environment you’re going to house them in. I would highly reccommend purchasing your plants, seeds or potted, from a greenhouse rather than from a home improvement store. The plants will be better quality, healthy, and occassionally cheaper; I’ve also found that employees of greenhouses tend to be more informative and helpful. So don’t be afraid to go in and ask which plants are best for you!

This article will be continued in next week’s newsletter as there is so much good information on indoor gardening out there. I’m including another link here that will bring you to a website that is asthetically pleasing and very informative in all areas of indoor gardening. Next week we will touch on some of the subjects they talk about such as windowsill herb gardens and which hanging plants are best for you.

Starting an indoor garden isn’t hard: Research; Purchase; Care. The worst that could happen is that the plants die and you have to buy new ones. Don’t be afraid!