The benefits of indoor gardening are plenty. Growing plants in your home can be rewarding in so many ways. They can spruce the place up, keep you company, and they’re pleasant to be around. Everyone has their reasons to grow their plants indoors. Of course, you don’t need more motivation than merely having fun. But these are some of the most significant benefits to growing a garden in your home.
Fresh Organic Produce
When you have your own vegetable, fruit, or herb garden, you always have access to fresh produce. But your crop isn’t ready to harvest, you say? You control the seasons when you grow indoors. If you want fresh veggies year-round, stagger the times when you start a new crop. Trying to grow fruit out of season? Use grow lights and environmental controls, like heaters, humidifiers, and irrigation, to give them the best environment to produce fruit. Growing herbs indoors is always convenient, especially if you grow them in your kitchen, next to a sunny window. It’s a wonderful feeling to pluck a few leaves of fresh basil off your plant to throw in your spaghetti sauce. Or snip off a couple of chives to add to sauces, salads, and other recipes.
Benefits of Indoor Gardening: Control the Weather
A major perk of growing your garden indoors is that you control the weather. There will be no sudden cold snaps, violent winds, or overly hot days to cause your plants distress. Growing your plants indoors prevents harsh weather from damaging their delicate leaves. This is especially true if you live in an area with extreme weather, like snowstorms or scorchers.
There are plenty of hardy plants that can withstand a wide range of climates. But if you’re growing more delicate species, allowing them to live inside your home will help them thrive. Additionally, establishing your plants indoors enables you to customize their environment. You choose how close they are to a window, whether there is a draft on them, or supplement their light source with grow lights.
Protection from Pests
Weather isn’t the only unpredictable element that comes with growing outdoors. Of course, you might see spider mites, scale, mealybugs, or other nasty pests in an indoor garden. But the likelihood of an infestation is lower than when your plants live outside.
Hint: When bringing new plants home, always check them carefully for would-be interlopers. Consider giving them a few days of quarantine to ensure they’re safe to add to your indoor garden. It’s also easier to keep an eye on indoor plants. So, you can stop an infestation before it can take hold.
Insects aren’t the only pests from which outdoor plants need protection. Deer, mice, rabbits, and neighborhood cats are some animals that love getting into an outdoor garden to snack on your plants.
Benefits of Indoor Gardening: Extended Growing Season
Even if you love tending to your plants under the open sky, growing them inside is beneficial. For example, you can give your bulbs or seedlings a headstart on the growing season. Start them indoors, around six weeks before the last frost in your area. When it’s time to move them outdoors, “harden them off” by slowly introducing them to the elements. Place them in a partially covered spot on your patio or a shady space on the side of your house.
You can also keep your plants growing after their regular growth season by bringing them back inside. But keep in mind that moving back into a warm house can be a shock to their systems. So again, provide them with a transition period in a sheltered area.
Air Purification
Plants create chemical energy to fuel their growth, using photosynthesis, a system that uses carbon dioxide and water to make glucose. In the process, they also produce oxygen. In short, plants “breathe” the opposite of how humans do. They take carbon dioxide in and release oxygen out. When you grow plants in your home, this process causes them to act as natural air purifiers. Many plants can also help filter airborne toxins, dust, and germs. These air-filtering plants include English ivy, snake plants, spider plants, and chrysanthemums.
Attractive Decor
Nothing brightens up a room like a big leafy plant or a gorgeously blooming flower. One plant alone can really add to any space, or you can set up a creative display with your garden to totally transform the room. Succulent arrangements, cactus gardens, or a windowsill full of blooming flowers can create an incredibly pleasing environment within your home. Knick-knacks can fill shelves and make your place look nice, but when you share your space with living plants, it just gives the atmosphere a much more vibrant feel.
Benefits of Indoor Gardening: It's an Educational Tool
Taking care of plants can be a lot of work. Gardeners need to water their plants, ensure they get the right amount of sunlight, and adjust the environment as necessary. Letting your kids help grow an indoor garden can be a great hands-on way to teach them about responsibility. It also teaches caring for a living thing and creating a routine. Additionally, it can be an excellent tool to teach kids about plant biology, life cycles, and sustainable farming. There are many gardening kits specifically designed for kids to make the learning experience even more engaging.
Emotional Therapy
Plants can be great company. And tending to an indoor garden can go beyond that. We must care about our plants’ needs, and caring can foster a greater sense of compassion. You may have heard that plants respond positively to people talking to them. Well, talking to your plants can act as a type of therapy for you as well.
Pruning, watering, repotting, and other tasks associated with caring for your garden can be calming and therapeutic. Having plants in your home can reduce stress and depression while creating a sense that you aren’t alone. Some doctors even prescribe gardening as a way to get exercise and improve mental health.
Benefits of Indoor Gardening - The Wrap-up
Gardening, whether indoor or outdoor, is therapeutic and enjoyable. It creates a natural beauty wherever your plants are growing. But gardening indoors has a few bonuses that make your hobby even more worthwhile. So, next time you’re at your local nursery wondering if you should grab one more plant, think about the benefits of indoor gardening. Then, grab two or three and get your leafy new friends home, into your garden.
