Tools Needed for Indoor Container Gardening with Soil

Growing an indoor container garden is no simple endeavor. Because you have to simulate the ground, sun and rain inside, a gardener must arrange for all of these things to be available to keep a healthy indoor garden growing. The following are some tools that are necessary for a gardener starting an indoor container garden.

Tools and Materials Needed for Growing an Indoor Container Garden

Growing Container - Home for your plants.

Use containers meant for growing food, not recycled packaging containers which may leach chemicals into the soil that are unhealthy for you or the plant. Choose containers that allow for good drainage and air flow to the roots of the plant. Plastic containers can be cheap and convenient, but offer less air flow to the roots than natural Terra-cotta pots. On the other hand, Terra-cotta pots can dry out more quickly in a dry climate, increasing the need for watering. Above all, the most important thing when choosing pots is to ensure that the planting pot has a good drainage hold.

Drainage Pans - Catches runoff from watering.

Drainage plans are essential if you are growing plants in your house on or around materials that can be damaged by watering runoff. Watering runoff is not just water; it has a lot of soil and other materials in it once it runs through the pot, so it is a brown liquid that can stain.

Sterile Soil - Sterile soil helps prevent disease by killing pathogens.

For indoor food gardeners, sterilizing soil can also reduce the small risk of getting food-borne illnesses from pathogens in edible plants. Small amounts of soil can be sterilized through a careful process of baking it in the oven or heating it in the microwave until it reaches a safe temperature. Visit this article for more information on how to sterilize soil for an indoor container garden.

Soil Mix-ins - Added to the soil before planting.

Mix-ins can include rocks, gravel, sand, clay, fertilizer or other materials that can improve the soil and amend any problems like poor drainage or low soil nutrients before planting the garden.

Balanced Fertilizer - Added to the soil as needed by the plant. Each plant has a different set of needs for fertilizer; many plants require no fertilizer, while others deplete soil nutrients and must be fertilized regularly. Keep the fertilizer that best suits your plants on hand for regular fertilization.

Lighting - Provides light energy so the plant can grow.

A large and sunny window might be enough for some low-light indoor container gardens with shade-friendly plants like spinach and lettuce, but other plants often need supplemental light on top of window light. Some windows have coatings on them that reduce the sun that reaches the plant, so you can't always rely on the window for enough sun to grow your veggies. For some plants, a simple incandescent light bulb situated 8 inches from the plant is enough to supplement window light. Other light-thirsty plants may require an advanced setup of grow lights on a rack.

Watering Container or System - For watering your indoor container garden.

The best bet for this is to make sure that you are near a water source like a hose. If your garden is small, you can use a simple watering can to water your indoor plants. If you have a large indoor container garden or a garden located inconveniently far from a water source, you might benefit from installing an automatic watering system to provide water to the plants.

Hand gardening tools - Used for digging and moving soil.

A good set of ergonomic hand gardening tools can help make hard garden chores like digging soil and mixing fertilizer less of a pain in the back. Tools with long handles can help a gardener reduce strain by keeping the back straight during gardening.

Cleaning tools - Soil makes a mess.

When growing indoors, it is a good idea to have cleaning tools like a broom, mop or vacuum on hand to clean up any soil spills before they get tracked around.