The Ideal Christmas Gift for Snowbound Gardeners

For the avid gardener, winter is like a black hole where flowers and green, growing things should be. A grow-light setup can help anyone with a green thumb forget about all those cloudy, low-light days. The most delicate plants can be grown under lights, and seedlings for the Spring garden can get a head start long before it's warm enough for them to be outdoors.

An enormous variety of indoor growing setups is available from garden centers and mail order catalogs. Dozens of seed companies and garden suppliers have websites and online catalogs. Whether your budget only allows for a small unit that sits on a shelf or tabletop, or will allow you to indulge your gardener's wildest dreams, there's something for every taste.

The heart of any indoor gardening setup is wide spectrum fluorescent lights designed specifically for plants. The reddish light simulates the sun's natural spectrum, and encourages healthy growth and blooming. The fluorescent tubes come in several sizes, from one foot up to the four footers than can be used in standard fluorescent fixtures available at hardware and building supply stores. There are even small fluorescent lamps that are designed to show off one special plant.

Whether you go for a simple table-top unit, a free-standing multi-shelf unit, or a rolling cart, the most useful ones either have shelves that can adjust up and down, or light fixtures that can be raised and lowered. This flexibility allows your gardener to give the tiniest seedlings the intense light they need and to make room later for larger plants. Some desirable accessories are: a timer that will turn the lights off and on at preset times, and a cover that will help maintain humidity for plants that are sensitive to dry air. You should also include planting trays, potting soil, and a variety of peat or other small pots. As the final touch, include some of the seeds that are probably already on the order lists from those catalogs the gardener has been mooning over.

One of the advantages of indoor winter gardening is that growing conditions are much more controllable than they are outside, and the gardener can try new propagation techniques that would be more difficult with wind, rain, sun, and insects to contend with. Rare and fragile plants that can't be grown outdoors at all will be right at home under the lights, and will make your home a more enjoyable and beautiful place. Indoor gardening can also contribute to the dinner table. Compact varieties of many vegetables have been developed to grow in very small spaces, and will thrive under fluorescent lights. Fresh herbs and salad greens add to the culinary possibilities.

Once you're past the initial expense, which can run to several hundred dollars for a large setup, overhead is fairly low, since fluorescent bulbs are economical in their use of electricity. If indoor growing turns into more than just a hobby, as it often does, you may find yourself part-owner in a plant nursery. The possibilities are endless, and so is the enjoyment. Put a garden under the Christmas tree this year.