Enhance Your Lifestyle

14 Pages·2015·1.62 MB·English

Enhance Your Lifestyle
with Indoor Gardening
Do you love to have fresh herbs in your soups and salads, but don’t have them in your kitchen?
Have you bought sprouts at the store, only to find them soggy and wilting when you get them home?
Is your outdoor garden underneath 2 ft. of snow?
Some of these predicaments can be solved by playing in the wonderful world of indoor gardening.
In this E-book, we are going to explore this world, and discover many of the options that are available,
ranging from the traditional window boxes, to high-tech aquaponic systems.
1-800-753-9333
More and more people are discovering the joys of having fresh healthy living food in their own home. [email protected]
You could join them. www.geodesic-greenhouse-kits.com
Window Boxes
The traditional window box was simply a
wooden box with soil, planted and resting on a
convenient window ledge. This still works really
well, and can be a wonderful way to grow fresh
indoor vegetables and plants.
Click here to read how to make a simple
window box.
You can also grow plants in
individual pots in a similar
situation.
Here is a fun blog article on
making simple window boxes.
There are several things to be
aware of when growing indoors,
and among them are:
• Making sure the plants get
enough light for optimal growth.
• Ensuring that they do not
scorch with direct sun.
• Monitoring moisture content,
making sure they do not dry out
or remain waterlogged. We
highly recommend using a
moisture meter to accomplish
this.
• If it gets really cold at night,
making sure that frost sensitive
herbs (e.g. basil) do not suffer.
• If you need to draw blinds or
shades, you may need to allow
for this.
Sprouting Wheatgrass can be sprouted in trays
and processed through a juicer to
The health benefits of eating enzyme rich vibrant sprouts are
well-established. produce an extremely healthy drink.
Sprouts are a “living food.” Unlike other fruit and vegetables, which
could lose a significant amount of vitamins over time, sprouts Sprouting wheatgrass, however, requires a little more care
continue to produce nutrients after being harvested. A sprouted seed, and expertise. Some people sprout wheatgrass and other
bean or nut has many times the nutritional value than the grains and give the whole tray to their domestic animals –
non-sprouted version. chickens and goats etc. – for healthy, nutrient rich fodder.
This is an excellent site to give you complete instructions.
Replacing the lettuce in your salad with
sprouts will give you five times the protein, An excellent multilevel tray can be purchased online here.
six times the Vitamin C and seven times
the B Complex Vitamins.
Many different types of
seeds can be sprouted,
including mung beans,
lentils and other legumes,
sunflower seeds, alfalfa,
broccoli and other
brassica seeds, wheat and
other grains, and many
more.
The simplest way to sprout
is simply to put seeds in
a glass jar, soak them in
filtered water for 24 hours,
rinse and keep them moist
in a warm place. Fresh
sprouts can be enjoyed,
often being ready to eat in
less than 48 hours.
Here are some excellent instructions for preparing alfalfa sprouts.
These 2 methods can be used for most kinds of sprouts.
Advanced indoor growing systems
Over the years there have been huge advances in indoor
growing systems. Among these are aeroponics, aquaponics
and hydroponics, as well as many types of grow light
assisted modalities. The legalization of marijuana growing
in certain states has made the research and development
in this field more widely available to the public.
Aeroponics
Aeroponics is a system wherein roots are continuously or
discontinuously kept in an environment saturated with fine
drops (a mist or aerosol) of nutrient solution. The method
requires no substrate and entails growing plants with their
roots suspended in a deep air or growth chamber with
the roots periodically wetted with a fine mist of atomized
nutrients.
Excellent aeration is the main
advantage of aeroponics, as
plants thrive when more oxygen is
available to the roots.
Another distinct advantage of aeroponics over
hydroponics is that many species of plants can be grown in
a true aeroponic system because the micro environment of
an aeroponic system can be finely controlled.
Aeroponic systems have an advantage over hydroponics
systems because the suspended aeroponic plants receive
100% of the available oxygen and carbon dioxide to the
roots zone, stems, and leaves. This accelerates biomass
growth and reduces rooting times. In contrast, the
limitation of hydroponics is that only certain species of
plants can survive for so long in water before they become
waterlogged.
NASA research has shown that
aeroponically grown plants have an
80% increase in dry weight biomass
(essential minerals) compared to
hydroponically grown plants.
Aeroponics uses 65% less water than hydroponics. NASA
also concluded that aeroponically grown plants requires
¼ the nutrient input compared to hydroponics. Unlike
hydroponically grown plants, aeroponically grown plants will
not suffer transplant shock when transplanted to soil, and
offers growers the ability to reduce the spread of disease
and pathogens. (From Wikipedia)
Some Aeroponic systems can be found on these websites.
My friends have had great results with the Tower Garden.
http://www.greners.com/i/hydroponics/systems/
aeroponics.html
http://mofloaeroponics.net/
Aquaponics
Aquaponics is a revolutionary system for growing plants
by fertilizing them with the waste water from fish in a
sustainable closed system.
A combination of aquaculture and
hydroponics, aquaponic gardening
is an amazingly productive way to
grow organic vegetables, greens,
herbs, and fruits, while providing the
added benefits of fresh fish as a safe,
healthy source of protein.
On a larger scale, it is a key solution to mitigating food
insecurity, climate change, groundwater pollution, and the
impacts of overfishing on our oceans.
Aquaponics systems are completely
organic. They are 4-6 times more
productive and use ninety percent
less water than conventional gardens.
Anyone interested in taking the next step towards self-
sufficiency will be fascinated by this practical, accessible, and Aquaponic Gardening is the definitive do-it-yourself home manual,
well-illustrated guide: Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-By-Step focused on giving you all the tools you need to create your own
Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together aquaponic system and enjoy healthy, safe, fresh, and delicious food
all year round. Starting with an overview of the theory, benefits,
Available on Amazon
and potential of aquaponics, the book goes on to explain:
• System location considerations and hardware components
• The living elements — fish, plants, bacteria, and worms
• Putting it all together — starting and maintaining a healthy system
Systems can range from very simple to
highly complex. However most people
venturing into the world of Aquaponics
discover that there is a steep learning
curve. Be prepared to be challenged,
as this is new technology.
There are lots of
YouTube videos and
instructions out there.
Growing Spaces has
a comprehensive
video which reviews
a lot of the different
components of an
aquaponics system.
Much simpler systems can be created.
Here is a short video to whet your
appetite:
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is basically a soil-less
growing system. There are many types
of systems which can be used to
accomplish indoor gardening, but you
probably need a dedicated indoor space
to accomplish this effectively. The most
common systems are flood and drain,
and constant flow.
I personally have not worked with
Hydroponics systems, so I am providing
the following information from Wikipedia:
Ebb and flow or flood and drain
sub-irrigation
In its simplest form, there is a tray above
a reservoir of nutrient solution. Either
the tray is filled with growing medium
(clay granules being the most common)
and planted directly or pots of medium
stand in the tray. At regular intervals, a
simple timer causes a pump to fill the
upper tray with nutrient solution, after
which the solution drains back down into
the reservoir. This keeps the medium
regularly flushed with nutrients and air.
Once the upper tray fills past the drain
stop, it begins recirculating the water
until the timer turns the pump off, and
the water in the upper tray drains back
into the reservoirs.