Normally today I’d try to make an update in my beloved group for indigenous woodwinds and music, QuenaSabor…but I wanted to bring some love to this awesome group!
Before we get into things, let me open with a picture of my plant shelf so I don’t get stuck with a book cover as my thumbnail :)
Ok cool.
I deliberated a good bit over where to post this, but in the end I had to go with my gut and let this be the sole post in “indoorGardens.” I know I’m not the only Hivean with an indoor garden, and so I believe whole-heartedly we just gotta kick this thing off…so here we go, let’s get started!
I know this is strictly opine, but I do believe that there aren’t a lot of easier ways to improve your quality of life than filling your home with plants…mindfulness and spiritual growth notwithstanding, studies quoted by Ellen J. Langer indicate that caring for plants can keep our minds sharp and functioning well beyond expectancy. Plus they add beauty to our homes while improving the air quality.
(Off-topic, but this book is worth the read. When I first cracked it open several years ago, I was bummed at first to see that she intended to cover the topic of mindfulness without any mysticism. But by the end, I really appreciated the stark psychological approach she brought to the matter. I personally still like the balance between psychology and spirituality :)
Anyway, I’ve got several plants in my home, but if I’m being honest, I do have a few favorites. The first of which would probably be my grapefruit plants:
These plants are so incredibly dense. I may sacrifice one plant to make a hardwood branch flute…although it’ll be probably ten years before it’s big enough to do so!
This summer my wife and I enjoyed making fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. These plants started when I cut open a grapefruit to find a seed already sprouted inside! After that I searched online and learned how to peel the seeds’ outer layer, and I found from there I could make most of my grapefruit seeds sprout :) if you’re looking for a quick payout, this ain’t it. But so far these plants have been extremely hearty and fun to work with. Also I think they’re really pretty.
This (above) is my mapacho. It’s a tobacco plant that produces around 3x the nicotine of the tobacco plants used for modern products (Burly, Virginia, etc). Historically I believe these leaves were used by shamans; the quick instant dose of nicotine (see kuripe applicator) is alleged to induce moments of clarity and general clear mindedness. Although this is around my 10th time growing these plants, I still have yet to imbibe the nicotine by any means…not to say that I won’t, I’m just waiting for the right plant.
Personally, I don’t really care to make the effort of growing things outdoors that can’t be eaten, smoked or otherwise used in some way. But indoors, I seem to have much lower standards…I guess I just consider the aesthetic and fresh air valuable enough on their own. So most the plants indoors here have no future use in mind, they’re just here to be pretty and loved.
I have four San Pedro cacti growing as well, but I think they’ll be featured in their own story someday…They are my real favorites :)
These ones are looking rough today, but I let them stay outside a little too long. These are my strawberry plants. Every year they put off 5-10 pups, which I plant in my outdoor garden. Someday I’m hoping to make strawberry winds from them :)
Last of the plants I wanted to highlight today is our majesty palm,
whose pot has become a sort of orphanage for cacti and succulents.
Now that the plants have gotten their moment in the limelight, I wanted to bring the focus quickly to their shelves. These were really easy to make. Half a days work (including planning and shopping for parts), although I must admit the black iron parts wound up costing more than I expected.
Above, this was probably unique to my shelving due to an oversight (I mis-calculated the difference in depth we between the outer flanges on the wall and the central flange on the vertical portion of the window frame by about 6mm, so I used a Dremel to carve out a recess in the center of each shelf. In the end this was nice as it helps ensure that the shelves can’t slide out of position.
Otherwise, the pipes come in standard lengths and are threaded on the ends, so I spec’d out pipe lengths online and planned my shelf frame according to what was locally available.
As you can see above, the last mahor consideration in buying parts was to make sure I got tee fittings for the middle shelves and elbows for the top and bottom shelves.
I designed this shelf based off of an image my wife showed my from Pinterest or something. Design took maybe 30 minutes, parts were around $200, and assembly took the longest because I figured out (since the flanges are threaded) there were orders of assembly that worked, and there were orders that didn’t.
The whole thing required some minor finagling to assemble, but it’s been up for a little over a year now and I’m still really happy with it. The supports are spaced enough to allow room for a wide range for f things, but close enough that I Haven noticed and major bowing in the shelves.
I’d love to see some more indoor gardens in this group, and not just for myself, but so we can grow together!
Have you ever built any special fixtures or shelving to support your indoor garden? Let’s see it!!!
What plants in your home are your favorites? Will they someday be harvested/used, or are they just beautiful plant-friends?
Peace and love :)
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