Bring early spring to your home with indoor gardening

(ARA) - Do images of flowering trellises laden with yellow, pink, green and purple blooms dance through your dreams? You may be ready for some warm spring-like temperatures, but the weather outside is still a little frightful. Ignore the weather and bring spring inside with some indoor gardening.

Not only does bringing spring inside help brighten your home, but houseplants can also improve the quality of the air you're breathing. A NASA study found that houseplants remove up to 87 percent of toxic indoor air inside a sealed chamber within 24 hours.

By planting now, while winter is still in the air, you will have vegetables, herbs and flowers primed for transplanting when warmer weather finally arrives. And since they're inside, you can watch the plants as they shoot their little green stems out of the fresh dirt, monitoring them as they grow.

* Use loose potting soil to promote root growth. Outside, worms and insects tunnel through the dirt, naturally breaking it up to help plants spread their roots. To mimic their effect indoors, use potting soil mixed with peat moss, vermiculite and perlite to create a light texture that won't compact after a couple of waterings.

* Make sure the natural light is adequate. Some plants like direct sunlight and must be located near a south-facing window, while others prefer a few hours of indirect light. But to really keep your herbs and flowers looking strong all season long, consider using artificial light like the Grow Light Pro White from Wards.com, which can also help you get your spring garden started early with seedlings. The Grow Light has four lights that can be turned on as a unit or individually, and it has an adjustable bottom shelf so you can alter the light level as your plants grow.

When plants don't get the light they need, they start to appear thin and frail. As your plants begin to grow, make sure to rotate the pots so the stems grow straight, rather than bending unnaturally toward the source of light.

* Keep the humidity level above 50 percent with a humidifier. Not only will your plants appreciate the extra moisture, but so will you. When the humidity drops below 50 percent, most plants suffer from water loss through their leaves, and it's difficult to regain that water balance, even with frequent watering.

* Really bring spring inside your home with beautiful pots and decorating accents. Visit Wards.com to find beautiful and creative birdhouses that not only are functional, but stylish enough to hang inside. Consider hanging a wire birdhouse in the shape of an acorn in the kitchen window, or using a set of two birdhouses as a unique decoration for your entryway.

* Mix art and fun together with some ivy. Ivy topiaries are very easy to grow, and there are many creative planters and forms you can use to support the ivy as it winds its way toward the sun. Are you a music fan? A guitar and music stand with little pots incorporated into the design can help brighten up your living room. Or maybe you prefer a vintage look created by placing a Madeline Dress Form over your vines, allowing them to grow and construct the skirt. Both styles are available at Wards.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage

Study Identifies Best Air-Purifying Plants

Martha Stewart says houseplants add to a home’s décor. But they can also purify indoor air, say University of Georgia experts.

“This is an area that’s been largely ignored, and the health issues are potentially astronomical,” said Stanley Kays, a horticulturist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “We spend as much as 90 percent of our time indoors breathing indoor air that often contains a diverse range of volatile organic compounds, many of which are toxic.”

House plants can absorb those VOCs. To determine the best air-purifying houseplants, Kays, CAES postdoctoral research associate D.S. Wang and CAES horticulturist Bodie Pennisi evaluated 32 plant species.

Best air-purifiers

Of the species tested, purple waffle plant (Hemigraphis alternata) best removed VOCs from the air. Other species with superior filtering abilities were English ivy, purple heart, foxtail fern and wax plant.

In the study, the plants were tested for their ability to remove benzene, toluene, octane, trichloroethylene and a-pinene, all considered toxic. Plant specimens were placed in sealed glass containers. The VOC levels within were monitored over a six-hour period.

Poor indoor air quality can trigger allergies and asthma and cause fatigue and headaches.
“More than 300 volatile organic compounds have been identified as indoor contaminants,” said Pennisi. “This doesn’t include dust and inorganic gases.”

Toxic compounds come from common sources

These compounds can come from carpet, wood panels, paint, people, pets and various other sources. Benzene and toluene come from newspapers, schoolbooks, electric shavers, portable CD players, liquid waxes and some adhesives.

VOCs also emanate from home electronic equipment, furniture, carpet and construction materials.

“Most of these compounds are readily absorbed into our bodies,” Pennisi said. “Bad indoor air can result in new house syndrome and sick building syndrome that can cause a diverse cross-section of ailments in those exposed.”

High levels found in homes tested

Before testing the plants, the researchers conducted tests for VOCs in three older, upper middle-class homes in Athens, Ga. Older homes are often more drafty than newer homes, which are built tighter to better insulate them.

“The results really shocked me,” Kays said. “All three homes had surprisingly high levels of organic compounds in their air. These were older homes. So if the levels are high there, then it’s probably widespread in newer homes.”

To reduce the VOC levels in your home, UGA researchers recommend adding a cross-section of plants, one per 100 square feet of living space. Using active charcoal filters in heating and air conditioning systems helps, too.

By Sharon Dowdy
University of Georgia

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Community News You Can Use
Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page