How to Create an Indoor Garden

Have you ever sliced into a store-bought tomato and reminisced about the vibrant fruit that your grandparents grew in their backyard? Food always seems more fragrant and delicious when it's grown at home. If you’ve ever wished you had enough time and space for at-home gardening, you’re in luck. The latest products will help you stop wondering how to create an indoor garden. Advances in technology permit you to enjoy all the benefits of home-grown produce without a square foot of backyard. Some of the benefits of an indoor garden include:

• Fresh produce
• Climate control
• Purified air
• Healthy eating
• Everything is in season
• Therapeutic value
• Sustainable living

The herbs and veggies you harvest contribute to your personal nutrition and health; the therapeutic value — especially through the winter — is well established. Indoor agriculture also provides a sustainable, eco-friendly source of nutrition. You can avoid the carbon footprint of conventional produce and use renewable resources to grow your own. Here are some tips on indoor gardening for beginners.

The convenient, all-in-one growing systems are great indoor gardening ideas for first-time growers. You can plant multiple herbs and vegetables in a self-contained system with straightforward controls. These systems feature user-friendly displays, dimmable lights and connectivity with smartphone apps and virtual assistants. Some models can practically raise the veggies on their own.

These units provide a soft introduction to gardening for beginners, but they're a great choice for busy professionals who are away from home for long stretches. They come in a range of sizes and price points. Some overachieving indoor gardeners might own multiple units for abundant harvests.

Once you discover your green thumb, conserve resources while still producing your bounty. Plants get thirsty, and water conservation does more than lighten your utility bill. Lowering your water usage benefits your community as well as the rest of the planet. Maximize your crop with the help of water dispensers and purifiers. These handy accessories provide your plants – and yourself – crystal-clear hydration.

Additionally, you can repurpose scraps by composting. This straightforward process turns your vegetable leftovers into fertilizer. Some automatic composters accomplish this maneuver in a matter of hours. Reduce, reuse and recycle, all while caring for your plants.

Give your plants the same sustaining energy that powers the great outdoors. Harness clean electricity for your indoor garden with solar panels. An investment in green energy feels even more rewarding when that power is nourishing you and your loved ones.

At some point, you might find yourself branching out into other types of indoor gardening. Perhaps you want to try some big-league planters. Customizing your own indoor garden needs little more than your imagination and some high-tech help.

Consider smart lighting. You can control these electric bulbs as easily as your all-in-one garden. Specifically designed grow lights allow you to produce bountiful light for your growing indoor garden. These bulbs have a variety of sizes to match your plants.

Remotely control the electrical features of your indoor garden with smart plugs and outlets. A state-of-the-art smart thermostat provides an ideal climate and precise management of temperature from wherever you are.

Is the harvest bigger than you expected? If you don’t plan to use it all, you could share it with your neighbors or save it for later. Your herbs need never go to waste since dried herbs can find a home on your spice rack, in a barbecue rub or they can even be frozen for future use.

You can also preserve the fruits of your labor with a food dehydrator. A good dehydrator features one-touch operation and an extended timer for hassle-free operation. Consider a versatile unit for healthy rotisserie cooking and air-frying to complement your preserved seasonings.

Pickling, freezing and canning are other popular methods of food preservation. Fire up a blender or juicer to combine your produce into smoothies, sauces and dips that can be frozen and stored in the freezer or sealed in canning jars for use in meals down the road.