16Dec/110
Small Area Indoor Gardening Using Containers
Gardening is a hobby that is growing in popularity. Many garden enthusiasts enjoy spending their time growing herbs, flowers, vegetable, and fruit indoors throughout the year. You can gain a true sense of accomplishment when you create beautiful flowers, heirloom tomatoes or fresh basil after few months or even weeks of caring for your garden.
Besides providing nutritious food and pleasant aromas, indoor gardens can also add life and beauty to a room and has been said to add a layer of comfort and warmth to the residents of the home. Indoor plants are great for providing oxygen and improved air quality in a home or office.
There are many types of indoor gardens that could be designed. You could have a vegetable garden, flower garden, herb garden, hanging gardens, fruit gardens and bonsai gardens. You can also mix and match any and all of the above to your liking.
As with the many projects, there are necessary supplies that you will need in order to enjoy garden success. There are plenty of tools available to help you make your plants and flowers grow bigger, stronger and faster. The most important element that needs to be replaced indoors is the sun. The proper grow lights are critical to your garden success. There are a variety of lights specifically made to grow plants including fluorescent, high intensity discharge (HID) and LED grow lights.
No Room For An Indoor Garden?
Containers and small pots can be used to grow plants on counter tops, windowsills or you can stack them in a shelving system to save room and allow you to organize your plants vertically. Container gardening is also useful when you need to move the plants around for even light coverage or to clean your grow area.
When choosing containers for your indoor garden, you will find that there are lots of sizes, designs, and colors of containers and pots to choose from. Using plastic containers for your plants is economical, however, many people like the look of hand crafted clay containers for their plants. Some gardeners use all kinds of items found around the house. You can use containers that are very attractive and give a very natural look to the room. There are some great wooden containers made to look like old whiskey barrels that are another great choice for indoor gardening containers.
Indoor gardening is a fun and satisfying hobby and there is a lot of great information on the Internet for the beginner and even the seasoned gardener to learn from. There are also scores of manufacturers offering basic and high-tech devices and tools help the indoor gardening enthusiast to get professional results out of their plants.
By: Rion Piccaro
28Aug/110
Passive Solar Greenhouse Plans – A Cheap and Simple Guide
Building a greenhouse on your own property is a smart way to reduce your grocery bill, and also to grow beautiful flowers in the coldest months of the year. There are many passive solar greenhouse plans available on the internet, in an assortment of designs. This article discusses some of the more popular designs, and helps you get on your way to commence construction.
Choosing Your Construction Materials
Professional greenhouses are generally built from metal and glass. This is not recommended if you're new to the concept of DIY. High quality alternatives to metal include wood and PVC. Both are reasonably cheap, and very easy to use. Alternatives to glass are polyethylene plastic and cloth. cloth is prone to mould, so it's recommended to use plastic instead, unless you're happy to replace parts every few months.
Styles And Designs
As previously mentioned, there are a heap of options to choose from as far as passive solar greenhouse plans go. The right plan depends on how much you want to grow, and how much space is available on your property.
Popular designs include:
- The lean-to greenhouse, which will obviously require a pre-existing structure to "lean" against.
- The tall and narrow grow rack greenhouse, which stands up like a refrigerator, and provides you with 5 or more racks.
- The modular hot bed, which lays low on the ground and is very portable.
- The larger arch and Victorian-style greenhouses, which are the closest you'll get to a professional greenhouse.
Hardcopy Vs Digital Plans
As previously stated, the easiest way to obtain building plans is to download them from the internet. They normally come with more than one design, so you don't have to make your decision right away. If you're not keen to use the internet for plans, check out your local hardware store and library.
By: Keith Gillett

