By JOYCE ARLEEN CORSON
Master Gardener

SYRACUSE — The variety of outdoor gardens I share with my family and friends, are relatively closed for the season, covered with blankets of leaves and spent foliage from annual plants and perennials which are now fast asleep.

One garden will stay open, it is the kindergarten. A planned space, plus others, will be our garden, which I create in our house and the grandchildren, kindergarten and third-grader, playing an active role in the observation and care of the indoor designated area.

The basis of the frame work structure, with lighted shelves, is designed in the style of the home and is a family heirloom called a Lite-Gro Indoor Garden Center. Lights are cool bright white fluorescent glowing on the shelves 12 inches below. Auxiliary lights on top add more growing space and work well as heat from the lights below enhance seed germination.

The shelf on the bottom has a prescribed temperature heating mat for starting seeds. House plants and other garden art to scale will give an atmosphere of enjoyment, pleasure and environmental impact. The dish garden, with bougainvillea bonsai, featuring the American Indian family, can be maintained on a seasonal basis which the children have enhanced with memories they choose to share. Plants thrive on carbon dioxide which our bodies give to them; in return we use the oxygen they produce which we need for survival as well. Talking to your plants is a good thing.

A well lit southern window with full sun will greatly help with natural sunlight. Some lights with full spectrum are excellent too, but the cool white is just as effective at a lower cost. Surrounding plants share the additional light cast off from the center.

Moveable indoor garden center
arrangement

Growing medium is available in many varieties. Soil is composed of water, minerals, organic matter and air. Any combination of these elements can assist and sustain growth. Some newly developed “soil less” materials have been introduced and work well to make your garden a special place. As plants grow and develop situations may arise to adapt their growing habit to suit your needs as well as the need of the plant.

Starting with a sterile medium gives your indoor garden the best chance for survival. Germination stations with pre-packaged planting cubes are an easy way to have fresh salads, such as mizuna here grown by Bekah Schrag, all winter long. These seedlings now growing in Bekah’s dorm room can easily be moved to a lighted grow station for enjoyment all winter.

Designing your own indoor garden is not out of the question. This delightful purple creation will be used in the dining hall at Goshen College. More information, with Bekah and Jeremy on how the garden center will be used for seed starting and culinary arts will be expressed in a later article.

Bekah’s mizuna seedlings

1. Tools needed for indoor gardening should fit to the scale.
2. Soil for plant growth should be disease and insect free.
3. Plants brought inside can be treated to take away any hitch hikers.
4. Enhance plants with garden art.

Corson is a graduate of Adams Central High School, Manchester University and Ball State University. She and her husband, Ron, were married and enjoyed many years of traveling before they settled at Lake Papakeechie to raise their family. Soon after moving to the Syracuse area, Corson joined the Syracuse/Wawasee Garden Club and then became a Kosciusko County Master Gardener in 2002, the same year she retired from teaching.

“Early on my interest in gardening came from a lineage of farmers and their wives, including three generations of generosity, giving me an enormous collection of heritage trees, shrubs and flowers. History and traveling has given me special interest in native flowers, hosta, the art of bonsai and many plants that have been naturalized.”

Individuals who wish to contact Corson for further information or questions may email her at [email protected].

Mizuna greens in Goshen College
herb garden