Introduction

For my final project, I want to figure out how we can make our own personal lives more sustainable, specifically through growing your own food. When one thinks about growing your own food, you usually think about starting an outdoor garden, either in your backyard or some kind of a co-op. However, we all live in Wisconsin, where it is usually more cold outside than it is warm outside, so an outdoor garden is really only beneficial less than half of the year. Starting your own outdoor garden is still a good idea, but how can we grow our food all year round?

What I want to research in my final project is how we can grow our own food indoors. Just because it gets cold outside doesn’t mean we cannot keep plants inside warm and living, in order to bear us food. I also want to try and change people’s thinking that it isn’t possible to do this, simply and cheaply. There are many different kinds of foods you can grow indoors- from lemons to pineapples to lettuce to herbs to sprouts- all these things can be grown indoors. The problem I know I am going to encounter is finding enough space in my own house to implement these practices, and having enough time to actually grow these things long enough to have them bear fruit or whatever it is I end up growing.

By being able to grow a portion of our own food, we will be able to save money, help curb pollution that comes from the transportation of food, and also for the simple joy of trying to do something I haven’t done before. Not only is this project possible, but it is also the smart thing to do, and I will also be trying to encourage others to do the same as me.

The first step in growing plants indoors is to set up an environment that will allow the plant to grow. There are six key factors to successfully growing plants indoors, and they are: light, temperature, humidity, water quality, containerization, and air circulation (Rice, 266). As mentioned, light is the first factor in growing plants successfully indoors, and was also probably the biggest problem I had. The only lights where I live are simple light bulbs, and there are no windows that let in enough sunlight sufficient to give a plant life. To solve this problem, you can go out and purchase a grow light, or you can do what I did and set up a small growing area at your parents’ house (pictures to come). Growing the plants next to windows not only helps the plants receive more light, but also to cool them down during the night time, so that they do not use all their stored carbohydrates during the night (Rice 266). Since we all use central air to heat our homes, moisture levels indoors can be very low, which causes the plants to dry out, so it is important to keep the plants hydrated (Rice 266). So far I haven’t had a problem with the container/soil relationship, but it needs to be said that simply taking dirt from outside will not be sufficient for plant growth, you need to make sure you buy soil with fertilizers. What I found to be the easiest thing to grow indoors for a project like this were simple things like sprouts and micro greens. Both of these things are very easy and simple to grow, so much so that you can watch a YouTube video to see how easy it really easy, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg. For sprouts, all you really need is something simple like a jar, water, and the seeds of your choice. Make sure the seeds are dry when you begin, then let them soak in water overnight. Over the next few days, rinse them and give them a little sun, even just putting them next to a window will work fine, and then you’ll have sprouts that are inexpensive to produce, and will give you a healthy snack (Growing microgreens and sprouts at home).

Now, one of the reasons I chose to do a project like this is because I feel that individually, we can all make changes to help address the problem of feeding a world with 7 billion people in it. However, the impact that each of us have on a problem like this is very minimal, which is why I looked into a place called Growing Power. Growing Power is a community-based program designed to, “provide high-quality, safe, healthy, affordable food for all residents in the community.” It is headquartered in Milwaukee, but has other urban gardens in Chicago and training sites in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Massachusetts (“Growing Power”). Growing Power does an amazing job of building a sense of community based around hard work and a love for food, but that isn’t all they do, they also have training programs that help others to continue the idea of sustainable food (“Growing Power”).

Another question I began to ask myself as I was doing this project was, “what, if any, psychological effects do plants growing indoors have on humans?” In a chapter written by Marjolein Elings, the author describes that in a recreational setting (which is what this type of gardening would be) there hasn’t been enough research to determine a direct connection between gardening and therapeutic benefits (Elings 3). However, she does go on to say that there are mental benefits such as, “an increased sense of self-esteem, awareness, responsibility, and self-confidence.” Do to the great variety plants give in smell, appearance, and what they produce, plants can create a calm and relaxing environment for the people who tend to them (Elings 3). There was also a study done by Kid and Brascramp (2004) that studied 361 gardeners from New Zealand. What they found was that there were no casual relationships between gardening and psychological effects, but “high correlations between gardening and feelings of autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relationships with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance.” My point being here is that there are many different ways that working with plants can positively affect our lives. Not only do we benefit from eating food that is better for us, but that the cultivation of these plants will give us a sense of accomplishment and pride that simply make us feel better about ourselves.

Works Cited

Growing microgreens and sprouts at home . chicagobotanicgarden, 2010. Web. 22 Nov 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg>. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg>.

. “About Us.” Growing Power. Growing Power Inc, 2010. Web. 22 Nov 2011. <http://www.growingpower.org/about_us.htm>.

Williams Rice, Laura, and Robert Rice. Practical Horticulture. Second. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1993. Print.

Elings, Marjolein. People-Plant Interactions. Wageningen: 2006. Print.