Gardening is becoming more and more of a necessity now adays than just a hobby. Due to climatic changes and ecological imbalance created due to high rise buildings it is all the more necessary to plant trees and shrubs to maintain the balance in the environment. How can we do our part?
By making a small window garden or window box and planting simple and easy growing plants, will help you to improve your environment, as well as give the psychological satisfaction of doing your part for the environment. Now you will wonder how will this make a difference? Well one individual five plants so imagine our population and multiply it to this figure. I am very sure that each one planting few plants will help us to reduce the ecological imbalance that is being created due to construction of high rise towers. Also a green window gives a break from the solid, hard and cold look of the concrete jungle.
The first thought that comes in anyones mind is that they do not have place? there is hardly enough space for humans, where is the space for plants? this is just an excuse. A best example I can quote is when we were travelling I saw the thick slums where we all know people live in crammed houses, nearly ten or more people in a small 8x10 room, here I saw a beautiful view...above the roof top that was made of sheets of aluminium and slabs of concrete was a group of beautiful flowering plants. The colours were fresh and attractive and though the place was very small this showed how the gardener had taken pains to bring the flowers to bloom, and here we search for the right containers, and the right fertilizers!
A Garden will also improve your mental status. Just try it, plant some colour ful flowering plants in small containers, and just see the result. The morning you get up will be the same, the sun will rise as usual, but just a glance at a beautiful plant and its blooms will make your day!
Where there is a will there is a way. Gardening can be done with any home food containers and left over oil cans. Even broken crockery, tin cans or paint containers can be used for growing plants. This also gives your home a personalised touch. Your selection of plants, containers and your place of display will show your plant loving nature, and believe me space crunch is the last in effective gardening!
Sunlight is necessary for healthy growth of flowering plants and an amateur gardener is better off trying to plant simple and easy growing plants. Indoor plants can also be grown which require very little care and water. The best example is the money plant. I do not know about the money luck factor (as goes the tradition) but this a definately an easy growing plant which can be grown on a window sill in water. Other examples are ribbon grass, peace lily, snake plant, jade plant, the lucky bamboo plant and many ornamental grasses which require less sunlight. More information on plant varieties and their care can be learnt on my blog. If you cannot place plants on the floor it is better to place them on the window sill. As this will also give them some sunlight for making food, and also your floor space will be clear. Remember for healthy growth all plants require some light hence place them in east facing window or any place which gets sunlight for some time. Water requirements of indoor plants will be less and one has to learn watering from trial and error method as to how much water is requried by your plant and, after how many days.
It would be better to start with little investment as plants though seem easy to grow are not as simple, and the new gardener on spending a lot on exclusive plants, in case of slow success will shy away from the thought of gardening. Orchids and gladiolus and other exclusive flowering plants have special requriements for growth. A beginner must first try planting simple plants that are available at low price. Also it would be advisable to begin in a home can or container. Though the best container for any plant is that made of mud. This is porous and allows better draining of the soil. Plastic conatiners crack after some time if faced with direct sunlight for long and they also retain water for a long time leading sometimes to root rot and the death of the plant. Ceramic containers are also good as they retain water for long time and thus plants requrie less care and watering. And these ceramic containers are also very attractive and colourful, and available in different sizes and shapes.
Fertilizers of different flowering plants are available in the market. As we need vitamins and nourishment, so also do our plants. Usually people do not know about this aspect. On planting a flowering plant they wait and wait and wait, the time seems endless for a bloom. This is a fact that most flowering plants require some fertilizer for bringing a bloom. Since we are planting it in a small container its food requirements will vary. This plant food or fertilizer can be got from any nursery or road side plant seller.
It would be advisable to start simple and as we get experience with various plants move on to growing more exclusive plants. And also remember death is a part of our lives, so also for plants, so do not get demotivated and leave away this hobby on the first step. In the beginning there may be some casualties due to poor sunlight, over or under watering and excessive pampering, yes believe me many a plants have died not due to neglect but due to over care!
Move ahead and try to get some information from the internet regarding plants, their names, their requirements and care and then see how your home garden blooms and becomes a centre of attention. happy Gardening!
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