Indoor Greenhouse Gardening For
Beginners
By Ellen Bell
For any gardener who enjoys working with their plants, a
greenhouse is a welcome addition to expand their hobby.
Greenhouse gardening can be as intensive or as low-key as you
want it to be, depending on how much gardening you do and how
much money you want to invest in the hobby. Serious gardeners
wishing to expand their interest into
greenhouse gardening may opt for a permanent structure in their
backyard, possibly something that incorporates a cement
foundation, integrated doors and windows, and an auto-venting
system for temperature control. On the other end of the
spectrum, we have the beginning gardener or hobby
horticulturist who wishes to cultivate plants indoors during
the winter months or start seeds indoors in the spring for a
head start on the summer growing season. This more basic form
of greenhouse gardening will be our focus for this article.
Basic greenhouse gardening usually begins indoors with a
temporary structure that can be set up when it's needed and
taken down when it's not. An inexpensive shelving kit will work
well for this purpose, provided you have space to set it up.
Other structures could be a tabletop that's not in use or an
old workbench. If you are purchasing something new for the
purpose of indoor gardening, look for a structure that's
lightweight and that can be easily disassembled for storage.
Consider buying plastic, if you have the option, so that you
can easily wipe away any dirt or water that accumulates.
Next, you'll need to look around your home and determine where
the shelf or table will be placed. If you have a sunny window
that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily, this
is ideal. Warm, sunny bay windows facing the west or south will
usually meet the criteria. If you don't have such a window,
then you'll need to consider using a grow light. This will
require a special light bulb that gives off a full spectrum of
light similar to the sun's rays. While the light cast from
these bulbs certainly won't look like natural sunlight to your
eyes, to the plants, it is virtually the same. Grow lights can
usually be purchased quite inexpensively from home improvement
stores or garden centers, and can then be screwed into your own
light fixture at home.
When setting up a grow light, it's important to suspend the
light as close as possible to the plants. Particularly if you
are using the light to start seeds, you'll want to place the
light within an inch or two of the seedlings themselves. If you
place the light too far away, the seedlings will grow tall and
spindly instead of strong and stocky.
An indoor greenhouse can feature a vinyl cover to help retain
heat or moisture, or you can simply use the indoor environment
of your home as the greenhouse environment. Ideal temperatures
will range from 75 to 85 degrees, so choose a room of your
house that is warmer than others. If you're using a grow light
instead of a sunny window, you won't be as limited to the
possible locations you can choose from your plants. If you're
using a grow light and trying to determine a warm location in
your house, consider an upstairs room and/or a high up location
in the room, vertically speaking, such as on top of a high
shelf or a tall cabinet. Heat rises, so the highest place in
your home should also be the one with the highest
temperature.
If you're a beginning gardener interested in greenhouse
gardening, don't be intimidated to give it a try. Getting
started indoors is easy and doesn't cost a lot of money. With a
little time and a minimal investment, you can expand your
gardening hobby, grow more plants, and give your green thumb a
workout during cooler months!
|