Best Indoor Gardening Through Those Cold Winter Months

Indoor gardening during those long cold months of winter can keep the excitement of your gardening experiences going. Having a garden in the home can really add to your decor and aid to your health at the same time. Indoor gardening helps to add moisture to the air as well as filter the air by exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen through plants.

This method of gardening is no more demanding than an outdoor garden and you don't have to have a lot of room to do it. All you need is the basics to have a successful indoor garden, light, nutrients and water.

Depending on the types of indoor plants, the requirements for lighting can differ, most plants grow best with a good light source. This can be accomplished by placing your plants near windows or by the use of growing lights. When choosing the plants you want to grow in your indoor garden, keep in mind that your plants with dark leaves usually won't need as much light as the other plants.

Over watering is the most common mistake that is made with growing an indoor garden. Indoors you don't have the sun, wind or the larger areas of soil to absorb the moisture or evaporate it. Your indoor garden will need water just as your outdoor garden does, just keep in mind that these plants are in containers and you can't just keep watering them and have water standing in the container, this will only cause the root systems to rot. A good drainage system is very important with container gardening. Under watering is also just as important and needs to be monitored. Check the moisture daily at the beginning to see how the soil retains or drains moisture is very important. You want to keep the soil moist, not soaked.

Humidity can be a problem with indoor gardening, particularly in the winter months when air in your house can be very dry. Simply misting your plants with a fine spray can help during these dry times.

Nutrition is another thing that is very important. Different plants have different requirements, keep this in mind when planning your indoor garden. There are many organic slow release nutrients that can be purchased at most local garden centers for this method of gardening. Also remember that a good healthy organic soilless potting mix that drains well, retains the moisture needed and retains nutrients needed for your plants to thrive is very important with indoor gardening.