Indoor Gardening and Everything You Should Know About it

Everything You Should Know About Indoor Gardening

Maybe where you live the summer is short or your backyard is too small, but you have veggies to plant. Your best option might be to plant them inside.

Indoor gardening is described as any form of plant cultivation you do inside your home. It might be as a job, for fun or just for the sake of it. In this article, we will discuss the requirement of indoor plants, the benefits of indoor gardening, what to plant indoor, where to plant, and how to plant.

What Do Plants Need to Grow Well Indoor?

The three primary requirements of every plant are water, nutrients, and sunlight.

Everything You Should Know About Indoor Gardening


Plants get nutrients from the soil. Loamy soils are rich in plants’ nutrient requirements, but you can always supplement the nutrient by the addition of organic manure or fertilizer. There are fertilizers that are specially produced for indoor plants. Therefore, when choosing a fertilizer for your indoor plant, make sure it has a label that it is for indoor plants, and make sure that you follow the specification on the fertilizer when applying it.


Different plants require a different amount of water to grow well. You must know your plant’s water requirement so that you don’t supply it with too much water or starve it. Plants should be watered every day, and it is best to do it early in the morning when the rates of evaporation and transpiration are low.


Sunlight is essential to all plants, but the amount of the sun they need to grow well are different. Some plants need to be exposed to sunlight all daytime, while 8 hours of daylight are enough for some plants. Therefore, some plants must be placed close to the window, while some will do well when placed away from the window. You must get information about the light requirement of your plant.

One good thing is that you can supplement your plant’s light with the aid of grow light. If you want more in-depth information on different plants and what they need, check out our list of the best books on gardening.

Other Ways to Care for Your Plants

Just the way you care for your outdoor plants, it is essential to care for your indoor plant if you want them to grow well. Check them regularly to ensure that they are not infected with pests. If you see signs of infection, make sure you treat immediately with pesticide or remove the infected plant from the rest.

Also, ensure proper drainage of your plant’s pot. Make sure that the container has a hole where water can drain as you wet your plant.

You can also increase the humidity of your plant’s environment if there is a need for it. With the aid of a humidifier or a humidity tray, you can keep your plants’ environment moist. Also, dust your plant regularly to keep solid particles away and keep them clean and healthy.

A great place to start your search for the best tools to care for your plants, check out our article on the best gardening tools.

Benefits of Indoor Gardening

Indoor gardening has all the benefits of gardening and many more. They include:

Access to Fresh Fruits and Veggies All Year Round

You may not be sure how long those veggies you buy at the store have been preserved. If you love fruits and vegetables fresh, then the best way to guarantee that is to grow them yourself. Gardening can assure you that you will get your products as fresh as possible and hence have you eating healthier. But more than what gardening can guarantee you, indoor gardening will ensure your plant can be harvested at any time of the year. If you plan to plant outdoors, you must wait for the correct season, but indoor gardening allows you to plant any time of the year.

Everything You Should Know About Indoor Gardening

Control Over the Weather

Different plants have different weather requirements. Some need direct exposure to sunlight, while others require shades. They also grow well at a different temperature and need different moisture to ensure the best growth. You will have little control over the influence of weather on your outdoor garden. But for the plants indoors, you have more control.

If the sunlight is too much, you only need to take them away from the window, and if it is too low, you can supplement it with grow light. You can control your room temperature better than you can influence the outdoor temperature. The same thing applies to water. You can’t stop the rain outside, but you can control the moisture your indoor plants get.

When your plants grow inside, you are sure they won’t suffer from sudden wind or unexpected snow. They will only get what you want them to get, and the exact amount you decide.

Unrestricted Growing Season

Indoor gardening allows you to decide when you want to grow your plant. You don’t have to wait for summer. Irrespective of the weather condition outside, as long as you can control your indoor conditions, you are good to go.

Pest Control

You wouldn’t be there to monitor your outdoor garden 24 hours a day. But you can keep your eyes on your indoor plant all the time. When you grow your plants inside, you keep pests away as much as possible. If any pest finds its way to your garden, you can easily see them and eliminate them before they cause havoc.

Apart from insects, your garden outside there is at the mercy of small animals like rabbits, rats, and cats. But inside, they are perfectly safe.

You Can Have Your Plants As Your Companion

Depending on your love for plants. You can have a pot of veggies in your bedroom, some ferns in your bathroom, fruits in your kitchen, and flowers in your sitting room. Walking around your home and admiring your beautiful plants can give you a sense of companionship and some satisfaction. Just as a beautiful garden can delight a gardener or as cute pets can keep homes alive, well-grown indoor plants can make you happy.

An Excellent Way to Decorate Your Home

Apart from keeping you happy, your indoor garden can also provide the right decoration for your home. Green leafy plants are attractive. And if you arrange them very well, they are good ways to add décor to your home.

Eco Friendly

Your garden will provide even more than decoration to your home. Plants are generally friendly to the environment, and when you bring them home, you get all the benefits, first hand. Green plants remove excessive carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and replace it with oxygen. It means if you have plants around you, they will purify your air and give you better air quality.

A Source of Income

Depending on the size of your garden, you can sell some products for money, or save the money you would have spent to buy them from the stores. As you can make money from your outdoor garden, you can also earn from indoor gardening.

Health Benefits

Gardening has been proved to have a lot of health benefits. It reduces stress, boosts your hormone system, and improves your heart condition. Indoor gardening is not an exception to all these.

Improves Family Bond

In addition, to all the benefits mentioned so far, indoor gardening also increases family bonds, as every member of the family will likely be involved in taking care of the garden.

So, with all these benefits, what are the best plants to grow indoors?

What Are the Best Plants for Indoor Gardening?

What you will plant will depend on many factors. The major ones are your reasons for gardening, the scale of cultivation you want, the space available for your indoor gardening, and your preferences.

Everything You Should Know About Indoor Gardening

Best Plant For Air Purification

If your primary aim for gardening is to have plants around you, it would be best to go for plants that will improve the air quality. Some plants can filter out harmful substances from the air and replace them with fresh air. Snake plants and photos are good examples. Also, you must remember that photosynthesis occurs in the leaves. Hence plants with broad leaves are the best for fresh air.

Best Edible Plants for Indoor Gardening

If your reason for gardening is to have access to fresh fruits and veggies, then you must choose your favorite ones. But you must also consider the ease of growing them and the chances that they will thrive indoors. Plants like citrus, tomatoes, salad leaf, and carrots are perfect for your indoor gardening.

Best for Beginners

If you are just starting indoor gardening or are unable to pay close attention to details, it would be best to go for plants that may not require much maintenance. Some plants can withstand any condition. Even if you neglect them for a long time, they will still survive. Such plants include spider plants, ZZ plants, aloe vera, and rubber trees.

Best for Décor

If your primary reason is to beautify your home, then you must go for beautiful plants. All plants are beautiful anyway. There are many ornamental plants that can decorate your home, but many fruits and vegetables will also perform the same function. Your interior décor and how you arrange your plant will go a long way to determine how much beauty your garden will add to your home.

Plants like peace lily, spider plant, prayer plant, and photos are all plants that will add beauty to your home, beneficial to your health and easy to maintain.

Best for Small Space

You also have to consider the space available for indoor gardening before choosing the plant to grow. If you have limited space, then you should find plants that can grow well in a small space. Plants like philidrens, hedera helix, and devil’s ivy can survive very well in a small space.

Where Should I Grow Plants in My Home?

Different plants can grow very well in different parts of your room. Some plants will grow very well if you put them in your bathroom, but if you put them in your kitchen, they won’t thrive in that condition.

The significant factors you will consider before deciding where to place your plant in your home are the amount of sunlight available in each part of your home, humidity, moisture, space, and the room temperature.

Bedroom Plants

If you wish to keep a plant in your bedroom, you must consider the exposure to sunlight. It is not likely that you will want as much sunshine in your bedroom as you will prefer in your sitting room. Therefore, you must go for plants that do not require direct exposure to sunlight. For your benefit, it is good to choose plants that will purify the air so that when you sleep, you can be assured that you will breathe in the fresh air, and the plants will filter out impurities in your bedroom air.

Plants like aloe vera, photos, dracaena, and peace lily are all good for air purification, and they do not require direct exposure to sunlight.

Sitting Room Plants

If you are considering plants for your sitting room, you must consider both decoration and air purification. Mother-in-law’s tongue, snake plant, and staghorn fern will give beauty and style to your living room. Dracaena and cacti plants can be placed close to the window as they require a lot of sunlight.

Bathroom Plants

When considering plants for your bathroom, the major factors to consider here are tolerance to water, and the ability to thrive under minimal sunlight exposure. Luckily, many plants can survive these two conditions. Among the top plants to consider are ZZ plants, Boston fern, orchid, snake plant, and spider plant.

Kitchen Plants

Your kitchen is another place you can grow plants. Your kitchen will likely have significant light, so you can choose plants that thrive well under a lot of sunlight, notwithstanding, even at low sunlight, many plants will still survive in your kitchen.

The major factor you will be looking for in your kitchen plant is the ability to survive your kitchen temperature. Of course, your kitchen is not likely to be like a bakery, and the warm temperature will likely be an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

Among the top plants to consider for your kitchen are aloe Vera plant, African spear, Chinese evergreen, and English ivy.

How to Grow Plant Indoors

Most of your indoor plants will likely come planted in a pot. You just need to purchase them, bring them home, and start caring for them. Notwithstanding, as they grow, you may need to replant into bigger pots.

When selecting plants to grow, you must watch out for the following factors:

  • Ensure the plant is healthy. Examine carefully to be sure that there is no sign of any disease, or else, you may be introducing new pests to your existing plants.
  • Check the root system to ensure that they are well developed, as poor root development will affect its ability to get nutrients from the soil.
  • Make sure that the foliage is thick and that it is adequately developed.

To replant, the first thing is to get a new pot. Undoubtedly, your new container will be larger than the old pot. That is the reason you are replanting in the first place anyway. After selecting the new pot, put sufficient soil in the new pot, and then carefully remove the plant from the old pot. Slightly slash the roots with a knife and put the plant in the new pot. Add more soil to ensure the soil level is the same as the old pot, and add sufficient water.


It has been established that gardening builds the immune system, reduces stress, and improves heart conditions. Therefore, indoor gardening is good for your health. Indoor gardening will also ensure that you have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and hence, help you eat healthily. It will also purify the air in your home and supply you with fresh air.

The benefits of indoor gardening also include adding style and beauty to your room and increasing family bonds.

Growing plants indoors also has the advantage of having the ability to plant at all times of the year as you can easily control your home’s weather condition. When you grow plants indoors, you can monitor them more closely than when they are in the field. Hence your indoor plants will not likely be affected by rodents and other small animals, and their chances of being infected by pests are lower than that of plants outdoors.

But there are many factors you must pay attention to for you to grow plants successfully in your home. First, you must ensure that your plants get enough water, sunlight, and nutrients. You must watch out for pests, and you must add fertilizer if it is required.

It is also essential to place your plants in the right place based on their requirements. Plants that need a lot of sunlight should be placed close to the window, while those that need shade should be placed away from the window. Plants that need constant humidity are best in the bathroom, while those that require warm temperature should be in the kitchen.

If you give every plant what it needs, you will greatly benefit from your garden.

Frequently Asked Questions

For How Long can you Keep Indoor Plants

The lifespan of indoor plants depends on the type of plants and how much the plant gets cared for. However, indoor plants usually live for two to five years.

Do I need fertilizer for my indoor plants?

Yes, indoor plants may require fertilizer just as the outdoor plants. But the fertilizer requirement of indoor plants is not as much as that of the outdoor plant. Therefore make sure you only supply as much fertilizer as your plants need. Make sure that you only give fertilizers designed to be used indoors to your indoor plants.

What can go wrong with my indoor garden?

If you take good care of your garden, it is not likely that anything will go wrong. However, common problems associated with indoor gardening are lack of adequate water or oversupply of water to your plant. Inadequate exposure to sunlight, excessive addition of fertilizer, and infection by pests.

What plant is the best for indoor gardening?

The choice depends on your reason for gardening. However, it would be best to choose plants that can survive very well with little sunlight. Also, if you are a beginner, it is advisable to start with plants that require low maintenance.

Which part of my home is the best to keep my indoor plant?

You can keep your plant anywhere in your home. The best location will depend on the requirement of the plant. Plants that need a lot of sunshine should be placed close to the window, while plants that require high humidity should be in the bathroom.

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