Do images of flowering trellises laden with yellow, pink, green and purple blooms dance through your dreams? You may already have a backyard full of blooming plants, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring some beautiful blooms indoors to brighten up your house. And if you don’t have a backyard, indoor gardening is the perfect opportunity to keep your thumb green.

Not only does bringing colorful blooms inside help brighten your home, but houseplants can also improve the quality of the air you’re breathing. A NASA study found that houseplants remove up to 87 percent of toxic indoor air inside a sealed chamber within 24 hours.

You can get started planting your indoor garden anytime. Imagine having herbs all summer long or vines keeping your house green well after the first frost turns the outdoors all brown. Here are some growing tips to get your indoor garden started:

* Use loose potting soil to promote root growth. Outside, worms and insects tunnel through the dirt, naturally breaking it up to help plants spread their roots. To mimic their effect indoors, use potting soil mixed with peat moss, vermiculite and perlite to create a light texture that won’t compact after a couple of waterings.

* Make sure the natural light is adequate. Some plants like direct sunlight and must be located near a south-facing window, while others prefer a few hours of indirect light. But to really keep your herbs and flowers looking strong all season long, consider using artificial light like the Grow Light Pro White from Wards.com, which can also help you get your garden started early. The Grow Light has four lights that can be turned on as a unit or individually, and it has an adjustable bottom shelf so you can alter the light level as your plants grow.

When plants don’t get the light they need, they start to appear thin and frail. As your plants begin to grow, make sure to rotate the pots so the stems grow straight, rather than bending unnaturally toward the source of light.

* Keep the humidity level above 50 percent with a humidifier. Not only will your plants appreciate the extra moisture, but so will you. When the humidity drops below 50 percent, most plants suffer from water loss through their leaves, and it’s difficult to regain that water balance, even with frequent watering.

* Really create a garden inside your home with beautiful pots and decorating accents. Visit Wards.com to find beautiful and creative birdhouses that not only are functional, but stylish enough to hang inside. Consider hanging a wire birdhouse in the shape of an acorn in the kitchen window, or using a set of two birdhouses as a unique decoration for your entryway.

* Mix art and fun together with some ivy. Ivy topiaries are very easy to grow, and there are many creative planters and forms you can use to support the ivy as it winds its way toward the sun. Are you a music fan? A guitar and music stand with little pots incorporated into the design can help brighten up your living room. Or maybe you prefer a vintage look created by placing a Madeline Dress Form over your vines, allowing them to grow and construct the skirt. Both styles are available at Wards.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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If you are an avid gardener, or even not so avid, you probably have your own type of fertilizer that you prefer to use and probably something that it has in common with mine is that it is expensive.  It is almost alarming at how expensive a fertilizer can be. Sure, we all want big and beautiful blooms but does it have to be so expensive to create those blooms.  The answer, of course, is no, it doesn’t need to be that expensive.

Instead, you can make a number of fertilizers using everyday items that you find at home.  Not only is it more inexpensive, reusing, and recycling the materials around your home is a great way to be a “green” gardener.

Tip #1:  It’s all in the grounds

The first time I heard this being suggested, I was a little surprised.  After all, doesn’t coffee stunt growth, I mean, that is what happened to me.  Fortunately for my plants, coffee works as a great fertilizer for gardens and instead of throwing your leftover coffee away, why not save it for your garden.  With this fertilizer, you actually don’t use the grounds but you use the coffee that is brewed from the grounds.  Once you have a pot of coffee, add it with another 4 pots of water for a 1:4 ratio.  This will give you your fertilizer and you can use it on your plants every other week to see some pretty amazing results.

Tip #2: Apples aren’t just used to keep the doctor away

Okay, maybe it’s not apples exactly but using a homemade fertilizer that has 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and one gallon of water, can add a definite boost to your plants.  This fertilizer is great for house plants and it does an amazing job at boosting those green leaves.

Tip #3: Keep your fish tanks clean

This may seem like a strange tip but if you have a fish tank, your dirty fish tank water works as an excellent fertilizer since it is chalked full of nitrogen, which plants need in their soil.

Tip #4: A little Epsom for you and me

I love having baths and nothing is as nice as a bath with Epsom salts.  It can clean those pours and relax those muscles after you have spent a day out in the garden digging up that new flower bed.  What is even better, a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt and 1 gallon of water can really help your tomato plants and other plants that require a higher level of magnesium to thrive.

Tip #5: Get cracking

The last tip that I am going to recommend as a homemade fertilizer is egg shells.  Whenever you make some eggs, save the shells until you have a fair amount. At that point, simply crumble them and then sprinkle them in the soil around your plants.  This provides your soil with much needed calcium carbonate.

And there are a few tips to get you on your way to not only saving a few nickles and dimes but also towards being an organic gardener.

Sirena Van Schaik

photo credit: © Fallsview | Dreamstime.com

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Jump-start the season of growth indoors and enjoy it through the last moments of winter.

Let’s face it — February, March and April can be gray and dreary months. You’re more than ready for spring to begin, but Mother Nature is on a different schedule. But you can jump start the season of growth early and bring it inside where you can enjoy it through those last moments of winter.

Stale, polluted air happens frequently when homes are closed up for the winter months. But houseplants help to lighten the mood and purify the air. A NASA study found that houseplants remove up to 87 percent of toxic indoor air inside a sealed chamber within 24 hours.

Start your spring season early by planting vegetables, herbs and flowers while winter is still in the air, so they’ll be primed for transplanting when the spring season actually arrives. You can watch the plants as they shoot their little green stems out of the fresh dirt, monitoring them as they grow larger and larger.

* Use loose potting soil to promote root growth. Outside, worms and insects tunnel through the dirt, naturally breaking it up to help plants spread their roots. To mimic their effect indoors, use potting soil mixed with peat moss, vermiculite and perlite to create a light texture that won’t compact after a couple of waterings.

* Keep the humidity level above 50 percent with a humidifier. Not only will your plants appreciate the extra moisture, but so will you. When the humidity drops below 50 percent, most plants suffer from water loss through their leaves, and it’s difficult to regain that water balance, even with frequent watering.

* Really bring spring inside your home with beautiful pots and decorating accents. Visit Montgomery Ward (www.Wards.com) to find unique gardening accents. A garden gate gives vines a place to climb and you can also use it to decorate your walls as a headboard or wall hanging. Imagine waking up in the morning to see the vine stems spiraling around the gate toward the window. Or search for elegant and decorative plant stands that match your decor, and bring to life a beautiful and scented herbal garden to spruce up your kitchen counters.

* Check the nutrient levels for your plants. Outdoor plants get nutrients reimbursed naturally, but indoor plants don’t have that luxury. Every time you water your indoor plants, you wash some of the fertilizer out of the soil. Not all plants like the same amount or kinds of fertilizer, so do a little research.

* Make sure the natural light is adequate. Some plants like direct sunlight and must be located near a south-facing window, while others prefer a few hours of indirect light. When plants don’t get the light they need, they start to appear very thin and frail. Also make sure as your plants begin to grow, that you rotate the pots so they grow straight, rather than bending unnaturally toward the source of light. If your house does not have enough natural light sourcing, artificial lights work as a good supplement.

* Take care of your plants when you leave home for more than a couple of days. You can always ask a neighbor to come in and make sure your plants get a good drink of water, or try the Oasis Plant Watering System available at Montgomery Ward (www.Wards.com). Place drip lines in each of the plants, set the system for the number of days you’ll be gone and the gravity-fed system will irrigate your foliage twice a day. For plants that require more water, double up the drip lines, and enjoy your time away. When you return home, spring will await you inside.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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