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Health & Fitness

Become an Indoor Gardener!

Not only are plants useful as air purifiers, but indoor gardening can be a great antidote for the winter blahs. A house needs living things—other than its owner—to make it feel like a home!

Not only are plants useful as air purifiers, but indoor gardening can be a great antidote for the winter blahs. If you’re looking for something to perk up your home and your mood, treat yourself to some new potted houseplants. Any good decorator will tell you that a house needs living things—other than its owner—to make it feel like a home.

Curbly lists the top ten winter houseplants to give you a starting point:

  • Aloe
  • Calla Lily
  • Voodoo Lily
  • Christmas Cactus
  • Amaryllis
  • Clivia
  • Corn Plant
  • Jewel Orchid
  • Kalanchoe
  • Moth Orchid

If you’re not used to taking care of plants, be sure and keep these guidelines in mind:

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  • Check the soil and leaves (tops and bottoms) of all your indoor plants for aphids, mealybugs, scale and whiteflies.
  • If plant is infected, move it away from the healthy ones and treat it with an insecticide solution made specifically for houseplants.
  • Check often for watering needs; plants can dry out quickly when the furnace is going.
  • Dust and grime are harmful to houseplants because they compromise the plant’s ability to absorb water and sunlight—occasionally spritz your plants and wipe them to avoid the excess dust.

Kevin Sharkley, an indoor gardener from Martha Stewart says that simply spreading white gravel, clump moss, sand or Spanish moss around the base of a houseplant is an easy way to finish its look. Also, knowing that each requires a slightly different regimen of cleaning, watering, trimming and fertilizing, it's smart to keep the tools and solutions you need in one container. In this case, it's a handled wire basket that's easy to carry around your place as you move from one plant to the next. It should contain:

  • Spray bottle for misting
  • Plant food
  • Paintbrushes for dusting leaves
  • Garden shears
  • Small pruners
  • Absorbent towel

Lastly, if you’re an outdoor gardener (or wish to be), now is great time to peruse seed and plant catalogues. You can see garden bed layouts, learn how containers are planted and even get ideas for porch and deck designs.  

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Spring into Spring a bit early and it will arrive before you know it!

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