Indoor Garden Set Up – The Basic Considerations
Welcome to our very first blog at Folifab! We want to be your partner in indoor garden adventures. Staying true to that intent we will try and build a community of gardening enthusiast to connect. We hope to share our knowledge with you all.
While launching Folifab many of you reverted back with encouraging words. Many also posed a lots of questions to go with it. Quite a few of these questions revolved around gardening itself, the basics as well as some very tricky ones.
We realize, many would appreciate an opportunity to explore this topic in more detail and put the leanings to good use. Thus, our first blog topic chose itself, rather than we making an effort to think of one.
The best part about gardening is that the key driver to all of it is in-fact a self sufficient being, ‘the plant’. As a gardener this fact aids in achieving our gardenng objective & purpose; yes, objective & purpose! That’s where indoor & outdoor gardening differ from one another. Outdoor gardens aim to beautify open spaces hence they have more freedom when it comes to size, shape and growth seen of plants. One the contrary, indoor garden is set up within smaller spaces and needs much different considerations.
For setting up an indoor garden, one must consider following parameters while starting on their adventure. These are rather uncanny & you may not have considered them as important earlier.
- Limited Space For Indoor Garden Design
Limited space availability is both a constraint & an advantage. For a beginner, it is in fact way more advantageous to set up an indoor garden in a small space than in larger space. Monetary resources play an important role as well. Indoor gardening requires relatively smaller budgets and can be made modular when made due considerations. This is essential as urban homes may not allow us to build a garden of our choice at one location within the indoor space. Thus, next time, while buying plants, keep in your mind, as a reference point, a small corner of your home or only one side of the balcony.
- Types of Pots & Planters For Indoor Plants
Yes, the pots and planters used, their shapes, sizes and material of the pot all matters a lot. A standard size pot works the best for beginners. We are talking about planters with wide mouth & tapering bottom. These are really very useful to grow plants. Also, the fact that they are available in 3 standard sizes, takes care of re-potting needs of plants that one intends to grow.
Avoid oddly shaped planters. They may look beautiful but may not offer much to plant as a planter that carries its growth media. Well formed roots is key to well grown plants. Also, always go for light weight planters with provision for water drainage. Aesthetically speaking as well, a sense of symmetry in planter shapes & sizes means more pleasant looking space with enough room to add or change plants as we go along developing our indoor garden.
- Cleanliness
Yes, it is extremely important. It’s not so much about dirt that gets spilled around the plants or spots of brown water on floor or surfaces. We refer to dust free and clean environment to grow plants.
Many a times, corners and areas where plants are kept aren’t cleaned enough. There are many plant fungi and parasites that could be avoided only by ensuring proper clean surfaces around plants. Similar cleanliness must be applied to pots being used or re-used for potting. As a practice always keep your indoor garden area clean. Just consider it similar to cleaning your living room or bedroom. You may use commercially available cleaners to maintain hygiene.
- Know The Different Indoor Plant Types.
At the end we must refer to different plant types that you can grow. Certain plant families are well known to adapt and grow indoors. It helps a lot to know about them. So, go ahead spend some time understanding terms like Philodendrons, Dracaena, Ficus or Succulents etc. Many of these are not native to Indian subcontinent yet they adapt and grow really well here. A basic knowledge of them will go a long way for you in making a wonderful indoor garden for yourself.
In this first article we have purposely avoided common topics like Sunlight, media, watering etc. as we start sharing more and more content on this topic, rest assured we will cover them all in due course and in considerable details. Till then happy gardening to you!