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Is Indoor Growing So Different?

Getting Started: Don’t Get Overwhelmed

Guest Post By : Emily McGowan / Worm's Way Group

Hanging up the garden hat for the winter is difficult for most gardeners, but for indoor gardeners, the change in temperature is simply the beginning of a new and different season! With all the meters, nutrients, and systems, indoor gardening can seem intimidating at first, but if you keep in mind certain fundamentals, you’ll be eating home grown veggies or decorating your home with fresh flowers in no time!

 

New Considerations

Whether you’re choosing to grow in soil or a hydroponic system, the most important concept to understand is that you control everything about your indoor garden’s environment. Seasons don’t matter as much, unexpected rainfalls (or droughts!) won’t get you down, and you may never have to deal with pests if you take proper precautions (such as washing your hands and keeping pets out of the growing room).

Before you start your indoor garden, take a few moments to jot down your intentions. Are you looking to grow flowering, fruiting, or vegetative plants? Tomatoes take larger, sturdier setups than do small heads of lettuce. Measure out the space you’ve designated for your indoor garden so that you know how much light you will need—square and rectangle spaces in well ventilated rooms work best! Ideally, rooms should have access to a water source and drain for easier watering and reservoir upkeep if you choose to grow hydroponically. Proper ventilation and air flow is important for keeping temperature and humidity in check and having oscillating fans in your growing area will even help strengthen plants. A good rule of thumb is if the indoor environment is uncomfortable for you, it’s likely uncomfortable for your plants as well.

 

Soil Growing

Container growing with soil indoors isn’t much different from its outdoor counterpart. But, there are a couple things to keep in mind if you choose to keep growing in soil:

• If you’re bringing soil in from outside, you should test the pH level and make sure it is suitable for your plants—typically plants look for a slightly acidic medium, around 6.0. If you purchase potting soil from a store, it’s likely already pH buffered, so you won’t have to worry about testing.

• Be sure to empty out the saucers or trays that gather excess water regularly, so that stagnated water won’t be reabsorbed into the plant roots. If you have many indoor plants, consider placing them all in a grow tray with a drainage grid and set the drain over a small bucket for easy water disposal.

Hydroponic Growing

Getting started with your first hydroponic system will require a little extra setup, but the rewards are truly worth the effort. Hydroponic gardening uses 60-90% less water than soil growing, and yields faster, and oftentimes better, results because of the completely controlled environment. Important factors to consider when starting a hydroponic garden are:

• What type of system and media should you use? There are several types of popular hydroponic systems that vary in price, size, and technical difficulty. Growing media choices vary by plant and system.
• Just as an outdoor garden, make sure you have time to check on a hydroponic garden at least once a day. You’ll need to test the pH of the water/nutrient solution daily with a meter or good old fashioned litmus paper test, and check the TDS (total dissolved solids) level to help you maintain the proper concentration of nutrients (if a TDS meter seems too daunting, this is an advanced step that can be skipped). You’ll also have to drain, clean, and refresh the water and nutrient reservoir once every two weeks.
• Nutrient packages will vary by plant and system. There are endless online resources on which nutrients are best to use at different stages in the plant’s life, and Worm’s Way is always willing to talk to you about which nutrients your indoor garden will benefit most from.

If you’re interested in learning more advanced hydroponic gardening techniques, we recommend George Van Patten’s book, Gardening Indoors with Soil and Hydroponics.

 

 

Should I DIY?

Some gardeners are off put by the expensive equipment they see online and in the store, and wish to pursue a DIY option instead. We don’t recommend making your own lighting systems because they are not always safe and reliable, and the materials needed can often be just as expensive as purchasing a small grow light at an indoor garden store. However, as far as DIY hydroponic systems go, you can upcycle two liter bottles to make a very simple passive system, or for larger plants, you can use a five gallon bucket and a small air pump.

If DIY is out of the question, but you still want to stick to a small budget, we recommend the Sunleaves Garden of Ease, the VitaLUME Compact Fluorescent, and a Lightwave Fluorescent Fixture—all together, they’ll make a great system for under $130. But whatever your approach to indoor gardening, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed! Indoor gardening can be as easy or as complicated as you make it. You may have to pick up a few new habits, but hey—as gardeners, we’re prepared for anything, right?

Happy Indoor Gardening!

Join us Monday October 1, 2012 when we welcome @wormsway as our guest host on #gardencchat Twitter

Don't miss out on the product giveaway being  featured on this blog from Worms Way Group later this week! 

Adventures In Gardening: Preserving The Harvest (What to do with all those beans!)

Happy Autumn everyone & welcome to my first (official) "how-to" Adventures In Gardening!

In my last post, I mentioned I was up to my eyeballs in (green) beans this year, so much so that I've been freezing my near daily harvests to enjoy during the colder months. Today I wanted to share with you how easy it is to freeze beans!

Let's get started.  Yesterday I used a fresh batch of harvested beans.  (I clip them off right into zip lock bags so they can go right into the fridge if being used that day or the next - if keeping them longer than than, I like to freeze them).

Regardless of how you grow edibles in your garden, give the beans a quick rinse before cutting.  (I grow my beans on the gate arbors & the birdies love to hang out in the foliage).

I cut both end tips of the beans off, but you may only want to cut off the top where it connected to the vine.  Then I cut the larger beans down into smaller pieces.  Many of the beans are more than six inches long!  If any of the beans feel 'hollow,' pop them open and take out the bean seeds - dry them on a paper plate in a safe spot & you can use them to sow next year!  (All of my beans this year came from seeds I saved from last).

Now that the beans are ready, fill a large pot with water half way & bring to a boil.  Fill a large bowl half way with cold water & add an ice cube trays' worth of ice to the bowl.

When the water comes to rolling boil, it's time to carefully dump the beans into the pot!

Once they're all in, I set my timer for 3 minutes & I stir them a couple of times.

Bring your bowl of ice water close to the stove so you can easily transfer the beans from the pot to the ice water.  I use a large serrated serving spoon to fish the beans out of the pot.

Brrr!

Once all the beans are in the ice water, give them a good stir or two.  I leave them in here for a few minutes.

After a few minutes in the ice water, I drain the beans.

Pick out the ice cubes & then give the beans a few good shakes to help drain the excess water.

At this point they're just about completely cooled off; I let them sit for a few more minutes.

Line a bowl or plate with a paper towel, then dump your batch of beans out onto it to help them dry off a bit.  You can move them around my hand or spoon to give them all a chance to dry.

After a couple of minutes on the paper towel, I place the beans inside a zip lock bag, filling one bag about half way.  (You may need more than one bag per batch of freezing).

Before sealing the bag, I make sure as much of the excess air is out of the bag as possible.  Then I make sure to spread the beans out in the sealed bag as much as I can (so they're not in one big clump & therefore don't freeze that way) before placing flat in the freezer.  

And there you have it!  Takes a little longer than 'easy as 1-2-3' (roughly 20 minutes) but it's well worth the effort.  Add to your favorite cold weather soups, stews & roasts right from the freezer or bring to a low boil in a small pot half filled with water for a side veggie.  Enjoy!

What garden harvests are you preserving now?  Share with us in the comments section below!

Until next time…

~Jo

aka Bloomin'Chick. Wife, mother of an angel in Heaven, survivor; a real Jersey Girl. (What you see on those reality shows isn't real!) Writer, photographer, joyful gardener (coastal Zone 7b/mountain Zone 6a) & avid reader. Eclectic, creative & happily married late 30-something who lives at the sea w/her heart in the mountains who happens to be disabled with Seronegative Arthritis & Fibromyalgia.  I blog about my passions & life at Diggin’ Around and my NJ at NewJersey Through My Eyes.   

Be sure to catch more of my daily garden photo shares via #GardenWalk where you can see what's growing around the world right now & share your garden with like-minded folks!

What is #gardenchat

Join in the conversation on Twitter!

What is #gardenchat

#gardenchat is a Twitter based chat forum where garden enthusiasts from all walks of life connect and interact sharing ideas about their experience growing. 

How #gardenchat Connects On Monday Scheduled Events

In the week leading up to the #gardenchat event a topic is networked on the social networks Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and the official #gardenchat blog. During the scheduled #gardenchat Monday a topic is picked and a guest host specializing in that topic is usually present to help with any questions and add to the conversation. On the Monday a guest host is present, questions are submitted that are answered during the event. Everyone attending the chat is encouraged to share their experience and answer questions as well.  A transcript is saved after each Monday event that can be downloaded from the transcript page. Documentation of the topic is a great way to keep the garden experience alive and available for anyone to review at their convenience.

If you are interested in sharing as a guest host on #gardenchat please submit a topic* you would like us to network to Bren of BGgarden.com .

When to Connect

• #gardenchat is a place where you can engage in conversation 24/7. Share your garden, questions, favorite products, and anything you want to add to the online growing community.
  

• #gardenchat has scheduled topics on Monday 9-10 p.m. ET. Check the calendar on this page for guest host information.

In the Video Below I share a few quick and easy tips on how you can Connect, Share and Grow with gardeners who use social media.

If you have any questions about how to participate please leave a comment below. 

CHECK OUT #gardenchat featured on the Martha Stewart Radio Blog : Twitter Chatting: The Next Big Thing for Gardeners 

Move It Or Lose It!

Can't stand to see your spring plants being over taken by others and want to make the most of your spring garden?  Join us for an extra hour of #gardenchat 9/26 on the topic of : Autumn Garden : Move It Or Lose It!

We welcome Benjamin Vogt,author of the blog The Deep Middle where he rants about writing and his 1,500 foot native prairie garden. Benjamin lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife, where he runs a native plant garden consulting and coaching business, Monarch Gardens.  @BRVogt shared with me that "Most people, I think, don't mulch well in the fall, and maybe overwater those divisions. That's my theory.....but fall is my PRIME moving and planting season, too because planting in spring is just a waste."

Please join us September 26 - Monday 10 - 11 P.M ET RIGHT AFTER the normal hour of #gardenchat with @leafmag <#outdoorstyle> as we share tips and ideas for the Autumn garden.    For more information on #gardenchat be sure to check out our website at TheGardenChat .