Table of Contents
- Tools Needed to Grow Produce Indoors
- Heart Healthy Produce to Grow Indoors
- Ways to Grow Produce Indoors
- Grow Produce Indoors – The Wrap-up
- FAQ
Whether inside or outside the home, growing plants can be therapeutic enjoyment. Tending them, watering them, picking the weeds are all moments that are good for the body and soul. However, deciding on the right type of plant to grow indoors is always challenging. Aside from navigating your home environment available for indoor plants, one factor to consider is catering to a health condition. For example, consider heart health by growing produce indoors. If you are conscientious of your health, learning which heart-healthy produce to grow indoors can provide ample benefits for the mind, body, and soul.
Below is a list of several heart-healthy produce options, ideal for growing inside the house. Sticking to plants on this list will assure you that they are well fitted for your health benefits, packed full of nutritious qualities, and nutrition is the goal.
Tools Needed to Grow Produce Indoors
Growing produce indoors should never feel like a daunting task and having the essential tools on hand can help get you started on the right foot.
- Watering Can
- Fertilizer
- Soil
- Hand Shovel
- Gloves
- Grow Lights
- Humidifier or Humidity Tray
- Containers
Heart Healthy Produce to Grow Indoors
Many hobbies can be centered around physical and mental health; gardening is no different. While indoor plants’ mental benefits or air quality impact is often mentioned when someone talks about gardening, what you can grow and eat to impact your health is less discussed.
Some suggested plants for growing indoors to impact your heart positively are spinach, kale, brussels sprouts, romaine lettuce, and carrots. However, no matter what vegetable or fruit you decide to grow, you are already on the path to a healthier and happier lifestyle.
Spinach
It doesn’t get any healthier than spinach when it comes to heart healthy produce. It has many vitamins and fiber that make it one of the most highly recommended products to add to one’s diet regarding anything but especially the heart. The best thing, too, is they don’t need a lot of real estate space to produce a bundle of joy for you and the family. A small window box container could be all you need to have an endless supply of this delicious food. Include a nice bag of fertilizer and remember to keep it fed with water daily; it can be a gold mine. Make sure to place the container in an area that receives roughly six hours of direct sunlight; aside from that, this produce is ready to go.
Kale
If spinach is the first, kale is a close runner-up for heart healthy produce that works just as well indoors. The trend of leafy green produce should not go without mention; it’s these types of plants that pack a mouthful of nutrition. One of the leading causes of heart problems is chronic inflammation, but we are in luck because kale is rich in omega-3s, vitamin-K, and flavonoids which are the core reason this plant is a top anti-inflammatory plant.
Growing kale indoors can be ideal as growing them indoors could cause them to develop smaller, leaving them with a sweeter taste. Growing kale inside is perfect for those in favor of a bit of sweetness since giving their compact sizes the sweeter the taste. Place your kale near a sunny window since they require ample amounts of sunlight on an average of 7 hours daily. Water kale when the soil starts to get dry and monitor it closely because it will sprout up in no time, ready to cook and eat.
Brussels Sprouts
The green plant theme continues with Brussel sprouts. Despite their poor depiction in pop culture, these plants are another crucial heart healthy produce. With the help of their nutritional value that includes high levels of fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids, Brussel sprouts possess nutritional qualities that have been studied and shown to decrease the risk of heart disease. If that wasn’t enough to prove their value as a healthy heart produce, look no further than the kaempferol they possess, which is known to help with inflammation in the arteries.
To get the best results when planting Brussels sprouts, it’s again good to pick a spot that gets at least six hours of sunlight and has enough air circulation. Keeping the plant in a shady location would be best to prevent sunburn. When watering your Brussel sprouts, it is crucial that it receives a healthy stream, especially when in bloom.
Romaine Lettuce
This plant is more commonly found in your typical salad, giving you a good insight into its health benefits. This heart-healthy produce doesn’t come in with a large quantity of fiber like the others on this list. It does possess a good variety of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium, all of which are beneficial in improving cardiovascular health.
That’s not even the best of it as it also comes with a healthy dose of vitamin A and C, which help with cholesterol build-up and help prevent plaque from forming inside the arteries.
However, maintaining romaine lettuce may be a little tricky since, more than likely, it will need a grow light due to its 15 hours of sunlight requirements. Make sure to keep extra, bigger pots on hand because they can be known to outgrow pots as they mature.
Carrots
Stepping away from the green theme for the last one; carrots possess a good amount of fiber and vitamins A and C, both proven to help protect and maintain a healthy heart condition. This heart-healthy produce doesn’t require much space, similarly to spinach making it an ideal indoor plant to produce. Carrots require about twelve hours of sunlight, so if that may not be possible to access through natural light, consider adding grow light to the location of your carrots. If your goal is to keep your heart healthy and happy, carrots could be the key.
Ways to Grow Produce Indoors
No matter which plants you choose to grow, you must find the best way to produce it. Methods from growing plants up the walls to countertop herb gardens.
A few ideas for indoor gardens spaces:
- Hydroponic Gardens
- Aeroponic Gardens
- Window Baskets
- Individual Pots
- Centerpiece Gardens
- Wall Gardens
- Vertical Gardens
- Herb Gardens
Almost anything lying around the home can become a plant container as long as it can hold the soil and has adequate drainage.
Grow Produce Indoors – The Wrap-up
As you can tell, green is excellent for heart management, but the last entry shows that color is always a plus, especially when talking about carrots. Each of these produces processes the necessary dietary supplements that make them excellent heart health. Whether it be maintaining cholesterol or preventing inflammation, these plants are proven to be essential in anyone’s quest for health.
What makes them even more desirable is that they can all be grown and maintained inside the home. With the help of a little sunlight, maybe a grow light, some small pots, water, and fertilizer, you can have plants in your house, not only lovely decorative pieces but also good for the mind and body. Gardens inside the home can not only be therapeutic and relaxing in and of itself, but with the proper selection of plants, it could be the very thing that keeps your heart healthy for years to come.
FAQ
Absolutely. Produce is grown all the time in hydroponic gardens or water-based systems. There are many kinds of systems you can purchase online or even entire kits that include some vegetables to get started. A benefit of hydroponic gardens is that they can be compact to fit on top of kitchen countertops or even the size of entire rooms if you feel the need for that.
Choosing one heart-healthy product due to space limitations is a tough choice. However, spinach and kale are excellent choices and great for the all-around health of the body; you cannot go wrong with either one.
Tools will depend on your situation. Aside from the standard tools such as containers, shovel, gloves, and watering can, not need much else should be required. Unless your space does not provide much light, consider adding a grow light or if humidity levels in the home are deficient, add a humidifier.
Every plant, even produce, will have different care requirements. Typically, the basic rules for gardening produce indoors are to provide ample amounts of bright indirect sunlight, water when the plant soil is dry just beneath the surface, repot if the plant becomes too large for the current container, and harvest when the plant is at its peak.
Carrots, Romaine Lettuce, Brussel Sprouts, Kale, and Spinach are the top-ranking produce plants to grow in an indoor garden. Suppose the vegetables in this article are not your preference. In that case, any vegetable you choose to grow indoors will help lead to a healthier lifestyle, which will benefit the body and heart.
