Gardens are no longer exclusive to sprawling real estates. These days, even apartment dwellers get to reap the benefits of our green friends. Here are 10 tips and ideas to start cultivating your own indoor garden.
- Create a mini landscape
An easy way to display air plants is in a terrarium. You can either buy a terrarium or learn to assemble one yourself at a terrarium-making workshop over the weekend! A DIY terrarium is a good way to sustain interest in tending your plants since it’s something beautiful you created.
Image credit: Float on air
- Air them on the wall
This geometrical wall frame is another great idea for displaying air plants. Group different air plants together to create a work of art on the wall. As with all other plants, air plants need water, air, and light, so adjust these variables to ensure your air plant grows well in the environment you place it in.
Image credit: Noah Garden
- Make use of a sunny windowsill to grow herbs
Having freshly-cut herbs on hand is a boon for those who regularly cook. Even if you live in an apartment without outdoor space, you can still grow herbs if you have a spot that receives direct sunlight.
Image credit: Ferm Living
- Let it self-water
If you’re one of those who waters your plants only when you remember to, try using a water reservoir. The convenient watering system in the Brussels Herbs All-in-1 helps to keep your plant healthy and well-hydrated by automatically providing the soil with an appropriate amount of water.
Image credit: Noah Garden
- Use a moisture indicator
Just like under-watering, over-watering can kill your plant. While plant roots take in water, they also need air to breathe. If you’re uncertain of how much water to give your plant, a moisture indicator will be extremely useful in helping you know when the plant needs water, so that you correctly water your plant.
Image credit: Anima Causa
- Be kind to yourself
While it may be exciting to buy soil and scatter a few seeds in it to see what happens, first-timers may be setting themselves up for disappointment. A better way to start is to buy a plant or begin with a fuss-free seed starter kit that has all the necessary ingredients put together for you. Get your seed starter kit from one of places like Edible Garden City, Eco City Hydroponics and The Plant Story. Specific instructions are found on the individual kit.
Image credit: Enrichten Design
- If you’re lazy, be smart
Designed for urbanites who want to grow their own veggies, Click & Grow Smart Garden from Mayer is an electronic starter kit with a system that helps the plant to grow indoors without manual watering and fertilising. You just need to plant the soil capsule into the device, fill the water reservoir, and let the system do the rest.
Image credit: Mayer
- Go soil-less
How about growing fresh greens without soil? Try it out with a hydroponics hobby kit from Eco City Hydroponics. Alternatively, you could splash out on Plantui, a unique hydroponics smart garden. Its photosynthetic light spectrums and watering patterns are automatically adjusted by the system during the different growth phases of your plant so that they get the right amounts for optimal growth.
Image credit: Plantui
- Install a living green wall
Plants are known to help cool the place, refresh the air, and promote an atmosphere of relaxation. To really reap the benefits of a garden without sacrificing space, transform one of your walls into a vertical garden. You can also get the professionals in to design a vertical garden with an automated irrigation system. In this apartment, the drainage system for this living green wall is connected to the bathroom which is just on the other side of the wall.
Image credit: Vertical Green
- Make use of balcony railings
This planter can be easily fitted over your balcony railings or a slim parapet for a garden window effect. Clips attach it firmly to the railing so that it does not topple.
Image credit: Noah Garden
This was adapted from an article originally written by Jasmine Goh published in the January 2019 issue of SquareRooms
