I met some hippies at a market recently. They offered me a free watermelon plant, heard my accent, asked where I came from, and wondered if I could give them access to some specific Tasmanian plant they wanted to grow. I told them probably not, as we belong to different countries, but we got talking despite their slight geographical confusion.
Our conversation ambled around gardens, growing, indoor growing, hydroponics. I even learnt a thing or two about transplanting (light shocks roots, do it at night time). I asked them about the lack of Vitamin D offered from growing indoors. Apparently the indoor lighting provides enough that it's even noticeable in their own lack of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which I have become familiar with during my time in the States. They then suggested I buy a water-bed as it is a pre-lined container perfect for growing indoor plants, or at least set up a kitchen and bathroom garden. They obviously haven't seen the size of our bathroom but I told them I'd talk to Jbird.
There are many reasons to grow indoors: containers can be made to self water so that water is reused efficiently, you can grow year-long without worry about frost and snow killing your plants, and now I hear SAD is all but wiped out from your own feeble human condition. These things aside, I love the hardiness of an outdoor plant, and the reliance on natural conditions which allow it to grow. We finally had a good rain last night and this morning all these tiny little wild flower seedlings, and larger more dramatic bean seedlings, are unfolding from the earth of a new bed I planted just last week. Rain always seems to bring 'em out. I'm not convinced, but I may consider putting a growing lamp in my study, for my own winter blues and perhaps to help the meyer lemon.
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