Keep Your Green Thumb In Shape with Indoor Gardening

Indoor gardening, whether it’s just keeping a single plant alive or nurturing an extensive collection of African violets, can be a good midwinter workout for your green thumb.

Success with indoor plants is a matter of getting the right plants in the right plant containers in the right place. Look around your home and decide where you’d like to have something green and growing. Write down the characteristics of that space—how big is it, how much natural light does it get and what direction is the window facing? Take these specifications to the garden supply store and ask for gardening tips on what plants will thrive under those conditions.

Things to Watch Out For

The two things most likely to kill or damage indoor plants is lack of humidity and over watering. The air in our homes is much drier than the natural environment of most plants. To keep the air around indoor plants moist, try these suggestions:

• Group plants together. They produce some moisture on their own.
• Place plants in trays of gravel. Keep the gravel moist. Do not let plants sit directly in water.
• Mist indoor plants regularly.
• Place plants in areas of your home that have higher humidity such as the laundry room, the bathroom and above the kitchen sink.

Water your indoor plants with hard, tepid water. Cold water and soft water can damage plants. If your tap water is chlorinated, let it sit in an open container for one day before you use it to water plants. Water plants whenever the soil is dry but don’t over water. Add water until it begins to drain out of the hole in the bottom of the container.

The secret to indoor container gardening is proper drainage. Poke or drill holes in the bottom of all containers. If you can’t put a hole in the container, place a separate pot inside to hold the plant.

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