By: Kent Higgins
While apartment or condo living may have its advantages, and is all but a necessity in packed major cities and congested areas, one of the major drawbacks for someone used to living in a house or similar structure, aside from the lack of space, is the lack of an outdoor patch of green to call their own. Gardeners especially, who would be more than content with just a tiny patch of soil to churn and care for will feel out of sorts cooped up in an apartment. Short of offering your gardening services to the landlord, what is one to do?
Your burning gardening desire can be sated somewhat by working on an indoor garden. Sure it's not quite the same as sitting on the soft earth with the hot sun beating down on your brow, but it beats the alternative, that being artificial plants or none at all.
There's nothing wrong with having one or more plants in every room, so you could certainly have a good deal of work and future gardening upkeep ahead of you if you wish. Plants will add a charming touch to every room, improve the air quality, and can even provide a different fragrance for each room, one suited to that particular room and its atmosphere.
Choosing which rooms to place specific plants in will always depend on the room's humidity, average temperature and amount of either direct or indirect sunlight. Be sure you in advance the kind of environment each plant on your radar will thrive in and place it in an appropriate environment. Apartments and condos will have rooms with largely similar environments, though full bathrooms will always be far more humid perfect for indoor houseplant care.
Beyond just plants, you can also get creative and add touches like dried plants or flowers to a room. Dried lavender for example provides a pleasant aroma that can last for weeks, and adds a unique look when tied in bunches and displayed.
Another unique touch is by adding a small herb garden to your kitchen. It may not quite make up for the lack of a vegetable garden, but it will add that perfect touch to your dishes and some will provide a nice aroma to your kitchen as well.
You have a lot of options when it comes to indoor gardening. It may slightly lack that connection with nature you get when gardening outdoors, but the process can be just as enjoyable and rewarding indoors.
For more details on the topic of indoor plant care. Visit us at http://www.plant-care.com.
Thursday 28 August 2008
Sunday 24 August 2008
Herbs to grow indoors
Here are some of the herbs which will grow well indoors. Choose as many of these as you can find room for. They will bring fragrance to your home, exciting taste to your foods, and a little fillip to your imagination.
ANISE
Hung over your bed, anise may not make you as fair and youthful as our ancestors believed, but surely the new interest which it brings to foods will keep your appetite young. Although anise is generally grown for its sweet seed, the fresh leaves are appetizing in fruit salads, soups, stews and herb teas.
Start anise from seed or bring in a young plant from the garden and let it have plenty of sunlight.
BASIL
This herb grows particularly well in the kitchen, for it doesn't mind the heat. Keep the plants trim by using the leaves generously in salads, stews, ground meats, poultry stuffings and fruit cups. It is a necessity in any dish containing tomato, or with fresh tomatoes. If you have enough basil, sprays are beautiful in bouquets.
Start basil from seeds or bring in healthy small plants from the garden. You can put three or four light green, smooth-leaved basil plants in the same container. In the spring I set the basil plants back in the garden. These plants can be counted on to produce seed. This is not always true of those raised the first year from seed, because our growing season is too short for seeds to ripen thoroughly.
BORAGE
Although borage is more attractive in the garden than in the house, a pot containing three or four plants will furnish young cucumber-flavored leaves for salads and cool drinks.
If it blooms, the blue flowers are worth the space given this somewhat coarse, hairy-leafed plant. Borage loses its flavor when dried, so use its young, tender leaves. Start the borage from seed or bring in young plants from the garden.
BURNET
Burnet trails its feathery leaves when grown indoors. It is one of the prettiest plants, and the dainty, cucumber-flavored leaves are delicious in salads. A sprig is attractive in cool drinks.
Because of their trailing stems, burnet, santolina (French lavender), and sweet marjoram are good choices for hanging pots or those placed on shelves at cupboard ends or alongside windows.
Bring burnet in from the garden or buy a plant.
CHERVIL
This fine-leaved herb resembles parsley in looks but not in taste. It is too lovely to look at and too good to eat to be left out of the kitchen herb garden. Bring in a plant and use the fresh anise-flavored leaves for garnishing and to season sauces, soups and salads. The white blossoms are small and fragile. It will germinate rapidly and may be grown from seed.
CHIVES
A clump of chives may be bought at almost any grocery store. If you have both an outdoor and indoor garden, divide a large plant and bring part of it to the kitchen window. The spikey leaves are excellent wherever a delicate onion taste is desired.
DILL
The Orientals used dill in brewing up charms. We “charm” our guests by using its seeds in pickles, fish sauces and salads, but Europeans use the leaves, too, in cooking. Why not try them?
PARSLEY
This herb, one of the oldest known to man, is as popular today as always. When grown in a sunny window in a glazed or metal pot so that the roots will not dry out, it will thrive for a long time. Use rather small plants, for the taproots of mature plants are long. Parsley does better in a cool temperature. Do not use fertilizer. Although parsley will do well inside, it will not be as strong and full as when it grows outdoors. The curly-leafed variety is the prettiest, the flat-leafed type the tastiest.
If you do not have a plant to bring in from the garden, it should be easy to get one from a nursery.
ROSE GERANIUM
Best-known and easiest to find of the fragrant-leaved geraniums is the rose geranium. The leaves are useful in potpourris, sachets and in bouquets, and they are soothing in the tub. A bit of leaf in a cup of tea gives an indescribable fragrance. If you don't know how to use it in apple jelly and cakes.
Start new plants with cuttings from an established plant. Since they are sensitive to cold, you must bring rose geraniums indoors in the winter.
ROSEMARY
Rosemary, the herb of poetry and legend, is not easy to grow, but it is worth the trouble. Grown in a pot as a house plant, it may be less than a foot tall and its lower branches will fall gracefully over the sides of the pot. The leaves resemble long, oval pine needles, particularly when dried. The leaves of rosemary are more fragrant than the flowers, and when gently crushed, they will give off the warm odor of pine.
Rosemary is a tropical plant, and it must be cut back, potted and brought indoors before frost. Your first plant should be purchased from a nursery as it is hard to start rosemary from seed.
SAGE
If you can find a small sage bush, it may be brought indoors. Its furry grey-green leaves are attractive and its fragrance pleasant. Although you will probably use sage which you dried during the summer, a growing plant gives a nice variation in hue to your indoor garden.
TARRAGON
Tarragon must be brought in for the winter in most climates, and may be set back in the garden in the spring. Early in the summer, start new plants from cuttings, for tarragon does not set seed which will germinate. Plunge the new plants in the earth, pots and all, and let them grow during the summer. When the first heavy frost causes the leaves to fall, you can trim back the stems and transfer the plants to larger pots for wintering indoors. Its young leaves are delicious in eggs, fish, meat and poultry dishes and salads. Plants must be purchased at a nursery.
THYME
Thyme will thrive in your window. Use it sparingly, in poultry stuffings, stuffed peppers, onions, zucchini squash, in meat and fish dishes. Start thyme from seed, and make sure that it has a sunny spot in which to grow.
ANISE
Hung over your bed, anise may not make you as fair and youthful as our ancestors believed, but surely the new interest which it brings to foods will keep your appetite young. Although anise is generally grown for its sweet seed, the fresh leaves are appetizing in fruit salads, soups, stews and herb teas.
Start anise from seed or bring in a young plant from the garden and let it have plenty of sunlight.
BASIL
This herb grows particularly well in the kitchen, for it doesn't mind the heat. Keep the plants trim by using the leaves generously in salads, stews, ground meats, poultry stuffings and fruit cups. It is a necessity in any dish containing tomato, or with fresh tomatoes. If you have enough basil, sprays are beautiful in bouquets.
Start basil from seeds or bring in healthy small plants from the garden. You can put three or four light green, smooth-leaved basil plants in the same container. In the spring I set the basil plants back in the garden. These plants can be counted on to produce seed. This is not always true of those raised the first year from seed, because our growing season is too short for seeds to ripen thoroughly.
BORAGE
Although borage is more attractive in the garden than in the house, a pot containing three or four plants will furnish young cucumber-flavored leaves for salads and cool drinks.
If it blooms, the blue flowers are worth the space given this somewhat coarse, hairy-leafed plant. Borage loses its flavor when dried, so use its young, tender leaves. Start the borage from seed or bring in young plants from the garden.
BURNET
Burnet trails its feathery leaves when grown indoors. It is one of the prettiest plants, and the dainty, cucumber-flavored leaves are delicious in salads. A sprig is attractive in cool drinks.
Because of their trailing stems, burnet, santolina (French lavender), and sweet marjoram are good choices for hanging pots or those placed on shelves at cupboard ends or alongside windows.
Bring burnet in from the garden or buy a plant.
CHERVIL
This fine-leaved herb resembles parsley in looks but not in taste. It is too lovely to look at and too good to eat to be left out of the kitchen herb garden. Bring in a plant and use the fresh anise-flavored leaves for garnishing and to season sauces, soups and salads. The white blossoms are small and fragile. It will germinate rapidly and may be grown from seed.
CHIVES
A clump of chives may be bought at almost any grocery store. If you have both an outdoor and indoor garden, divide a large plant and bring part of it to the kitchen window. The spikey leaves are excellent wherever a delicate onion taste is desired.
DILL
The Orientals used dill in brewing up charms. We “charm” our guests by using its seeds in pickles, fish sauces and salads, but Europeans use the leaves, too, in cooking. Why not try them?
PARSLEY
This herb, one of the oldest known to man, is as popular today as always. When grown in a sunny window in a glazed or metal pot so that the roots will not dry out, it will thrive for a long time. Use rather small plants, for the taproots of mature plants are long. Parsley does better in a cool temperature. Do not use fertilizer. Although parsley will do well inside, it will not be as strong and full as when it grows outdoors. The curly-leafed variety is the prettiest, the flat-leafed type the tastiest.
If you do not have a plant to bring in from the garden, it should be easy to get one from a nursery.
ROSE GERANIUM
Best-known and easiest to find of the fragrant-leaved geraniums is the rose geranium. The leaves are useful in potpourris, sachets and in bouquets, and they are soothing in the tub. A bit of leaf in a cup of tea gives an indescribable fragrance. If you don't know how to use it in apple jelly and cakes.
Start new plants with cuttings from an established plant. Since they are sensitive to cold, you must bring rose geraniums indoors in the winter.
ROSEMARY
Rosemary, the herb of poetry and legend, is not easy to grow, but it is worth the trouble. Grown in a pot as a house plant, it may be less than a foot tall and its lower branches will fall gracefully over the sides of the pot. The leaves resemble long, oval pine needles, particularly when dried. The leaves of rosemary are more fragrant than the flowers, and when gently crushed, they will give off the warm odor of pine.
Rosemary is a tropical plant, and it must be cut back, potted and brought indoors before frost. Your first plant should be purchased from a nursery as it is hard to start rosemary from seed.
SAGE
If you can find a small sage bush, it may be brought indoors. Its furry grey-green leaves are attractive and its fragrance pleasant. Although you will probably use sage which you dried during the summer, a growing plant gives a nice variation in hue to your indoor garden.
TARRAGON
Tarragon must be brought in for the winter in most climates, and may be set back in the garden in the spring. Early in the summer, start new plants from cuttings, for tarragon does not set seed which will germinate. Plunge the new plants in the earth, pots and all, and let them grow during the summer. When the first heavy frost causes the leaves to fall, you can trim back the stems and transfer the plants to larger pots for wintering indoors. Its young leaves are delicious in eggs, fish, meat and poultry dishes and salads. Plants must be purchased at a nursery.
THYME
Thyme will thrive in your window. Use it sparingly, in poultry stuffings, stuffed peppers, onions, zucchini squash, in meat and fish dishes. Start thyme from seed, and make sure that it has a sunny spot in which to grow.
Your Indoor Herb Garden
By now you no longer think of herbs only as bits of dry seasoning, bottled and hidden on the kitchen shelves. There isn't a room in any house or apartment that won't be more attractive with fragrant herbs growing there.
If you are an apartment dweller, surrounded by concrete out of doors, you can have an indoor herb garden. In fact, you can grow almost as many varieties of herbs indoors as you could in an average-sized outdoor garden. On the other hand, if you have an herb garden outdoors, you will enjoy being surrounded by herbs inside too. For example, why not have a sweet scented geranium in your living room? These lovely plants were often found in Victorian parlors. Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamus), immortalized by Virgil, was also popular. Both will fit into your home.
There are several ways to begin your indoor herb garden. You may bring plants in from your outdoor garden, if you have one; start plants from seeds, from cuttings or you may acquire the plants themselves from a friend, a florist or nursery, and then pot them. If you are starting new annuals to bring indoors, plant them late in the season outdoors and transplant before the first frost.
You may plant seeds of sweet marjoram, parsley, basil, dill, anise and coriander directly in your indoor containers. However, I have never had any trouble bringing plants of parsley and basil in from the garden. I choose small plants of basil, since they are apt to grow quite tall, and small parsley plants, since otherwise the taproot would be too deep to transplant.
If you want to grow chives and do not wish to divide your outdoor clump, buy another clump and set it in a bulb pan or low pot filled with light, sweet soil. Cut back the foliage and let new growth start. There is no need to waste the trimmings; chop them and freeze them.
Put the chives in a sunny window where they will not get too warm—55° to 60° Fahrenheit is best—and keep them on the dry side. One reason that so many people have trouble keeping chives growing through the winter is the heat of the kitchen.
In your outdoor garden you may have had some perennials such as rose geranium, rosemary and lavender which need the protection of the house during the winter. These plants are not easy to start from seed, nor are the plants themselves readily available. So, once started, you will not want to take the chance of letting them winter-kill. Bring them inside.
If your house space is limited, try this idea. Keep one rose geranium indoors and let it grow as large as it wishes, so that you can cut slips from it. I keep mine in one of the big round planters now so popular. Let the geranium be the focal point of the planter instead of the more usual cut-leaf philodendron, which almost every house plant owner has climbing up a center pole of spagnum moss. Why not be different ? Fasten the leggy branches of your rose geranium to the pole, and put your smaller herbs around it. If you want more vividness, tuck in a few artificial flowers. Give the planter a place on the floor or on a low table by a sunny window.
More gardening ideas.
If you are an apartment dweller, surrounded by concrete out of doors, you can have an indoor herb garden. In fact, you can grow almost as many varieties of herbs indoors as you could in an average-sized outdoor garden. On the other hand, if you have an herb garden outdoors, you will enjoy being surrounded by herbs inside too. For example, why not have a sweet scented geranium in your living room? These lovely plants were often found in Victorian parlors. Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamus), immortalized by Virgil, was also popular. Both will fit into your home.
There are several ways to begin your indoor herb garden. You may bring plants in from your outdoor garden, if you have one; start plants from seeds, from cuttings or you may acquire the plants themselves from a friend, a florist or nursery, and then pot them. If you are starting new annuals to bring indoors, plant them late in the season outdoors and transplant before the first frost.
You may plant seeds of sweet marjoram, parsley, basil, dill, anise and coriander directly in your indoor containers. However, I have never had any trouble bringing plants of parsley and basil in from the garden. I choose small plants of basil, since they are apt to grow quite tall, and small parsley plants, since otherwise the taproot would be too deep to transplant.
If you want to grow chives and do not wish to divide your outdoor clump, buy another clump and set it in a bulb pan or low pot filled with light, sweet soil. Cut back the foliage and let new growth start. There is no need to waste the trimmings; chop them and freeze them.
Put the chives in a sunny window where they will not get too warm—55° to 60° Fahrenheit is best—and keep them on the dry side. One reason that so many people have trouble keeping chives growing through the winter is the heat of the kitchen.
In your outdoor garden you may have had some perennials such as rose geranium, rosemary and lavender which need the protection of the house during the winter. These plants are not easy to start from seed, nor are the plants themselves readily available. So, once started, you will not want to take the chance of letting them winter-kill. Bring them inside.
If your house space is limited, try this idea. Keep one rose geranium indoors and let it grow as large as it wishes, so that you can cut slips from it. I keep mine in one of the big round planters now so popular. Let the geranium be the focal point of the planter instead of the more usual cut-leaf philodendron, which almost every house plant owner has climbing up a center pole of spagnum moss. Why not be different ? Fasten the leggy branches of your rose geranium to the pole, and put your smaller herbs around it. If you want more vividness, tuck in a few artificial flowers. Give the planter a place on the floor or on a low table by a sunny window.
More gardening ideas.
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