Gardening Views

There are many varieties of plants that can be placed and grown inside the house. These plant species vary from perennials to flowering plants, to orchids, and cacti. Often, care for these plants is simple and easy, and requires just a few basic needs such as occasional watering, feeding, and adequate sunlight. These plants will surely add a lively touch to an empty window sill or a kitchen area, or in almost any part of the house. But what about those parts of the house that are rarely or not visited by sunlight? How can one brighten up a very din hallway or a dark corner?

There are also plants that can grow with very little light. One is the Aspidistra. The Aspidistra is also commonly known as the cast iron plant. It has been a common indoor plant since the Victorian era and is now a common choice for indoor plants today.

The Aspidistra is often described as tough and adaptable plant specie. Its leaves are of the variegated type of dark green and white on long thick blades. These leaves usually grow straight out form the soil in clusters. Each leaf or blade can grow as tall as 75 centimeters with a width of up to fifteen centimeters. This plant specie is very low maintenance. It requires minimum light, and only needs occasional watering. It is most adaptable to in any type of conditions so temperature and humidity factors are not a problem.

Aspidistras are commonly available in gardens and plant nurseries. There are a few more types of low-light plants that can be used for homes and offices. Indoor low-light conditions are considered to be places that are approximately around four or five meters away form a source of light such as a door or window. Here’s a few more example of low-light plants:

1. Chinese Evergreen (Aglonema) – these plants can adapt well to very low light conditions. It has dark green oval shaped leaves. The leaves have a tubular base where several leaves meet. Some Chinese evergreens may be variegated with leathery leaves of dark green and white or light yellow.
2. Fortune Plants (Drachena Deremensis) – fortune plants are believed to bring luck to those who own them. These plants are also common gifts. It has slender leaves that may be white variegated.
3. Holly Fern or Boston Fern – these are fishbone types of fern that thrive well under low-light conditions. It can be left in low-lighted areas for months.
4. Parlor Palm (Neanth Bella) – compared to other palm species, these plants are the most suitable palm types for low-light indoor use.
5. Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (Sanseviera) – these plants have slender spiky leaves that are striped with white and green. This is a low maintenance type of plant that can either grow well under low light or extremely bright light.

Plants add beauty to your homes and offices. Not all indoor plants need adequate light so you should not worry if there is not enough natural light coming in to a space where you want to place a plant in. Low-light indoor plants can help brighten up a room or a dim area of your house or office.

Because of the inconsistent food supply that we have nowadays, a lot of experienced gardeners are looking into extending the gardening season right into Fall. The months of July and September are the perfect time to plant weather crops. There are a number of vegetables that falls under the category of Fall plants, like cauliflower and broccoli. These vegetables are even said to be tastier when planted during cool weather. After their first frost, some vegetables like Swiss chard and kale obtain their peak flavor.

Planting during the Fall season entails less work. This is because the soil is pretty much worked up during Spring season. After you carefully remove crop waste of the previous plants that you had in your garden, you only need to do a light cultivation to prepare for the next set of crops that you would plant. Make sure to remove unwanted vegetation. Add organic mulch or compost to your soil then proceed with vegetable planting.

Vegetables that grow well during the Fall season includes Chinese cabbage, endive, lettuce, parsnips, potatoes, peas, radish, spinach and mustard. Here’s a tip that you can use: to avoid plant disease problems, it is recommended to your rotate your vegetables and avoid planting the same type of crops in the same location.

You can ask your local garden expert on appropriate planting times for your specific growing zone. He may advice you to protect your vegetables by covering them with plastic sheeting that can trap radiated heat and raise temperature to shield your vegetables from light frost. Hard freeze can harm your crops. If this happens, you may pull out certain crops and store them in a dry and cool place and allow them to ripen for about 14 days.

With Fall vegetable gardening, you are sure to have an ample supply of vegetables and crops that you can sell or consume and prepare for our entire family.