The Indoor Garden

August 19th, 2009 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Green Apartment Living | No Comments »

Admittedly, this idea excites me more than the average renter because our apartment actually has an extra room that we have already loftily named “the solarium,” albeit is basically a depository of houseplants, not the glorious and verdant waterfall of chloroplasticfantastic flora pictured above.

The indoor garden, of course is constrained by space, how many renters actually have an extra room, or enough space in their living rooms for an entire garden? It’s pretty easy to have a few potted plants on end tables, maybe even a few ivies hanging from certain spots, but most apartments just don’t have enough room for a greenhouse.

But now, with the advent of the ingenious wall supported pottery plant (with optional lattice formation) apartment dwellers can now enjoy vertical gardens. As we have discussed before, plants are more than just decorations, but plants make your apartment healthier, by filtering out chemicals and producing oxygen. In some cities, where air quality is poor, plants can drastically reduce the amount of pollutants in the air. The Paharpu Business Centre in New Delhi combats the high level of pollution in their city with thousands of plants, which has helped people who suffer from lung disease.

For apartments, the vertical garden, or living wall, is a great way to get a lot of plants in a small place, perfect for apartments. The one that I saw that seemed particularly aesthetically pleasing and easy to install was from the Woolly Pocket Garden Company, which has a very photocentric blog. They sell flexible bags with anchors that you can easily install on your wall. Here are the prices and designs of their vertical offerings:

Installation is rather easy, since the pockets come with anchors that you drill into a wall much in the same way as if you were going to hang a painting. The folks at Woolly Pocket provide detailed instructions and recommendations for watering and the kind of soil that works best.