![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/You-are-what-you-eat-175x300.jpg\" "\\"You")
<\/a>But the reason that I know that there is exactly a year and a half\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth is that I have never used any of it…. it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just been sitting in that plastic box. That food waste is currently no better off than it would be had I sent it to the city incinerator. It is analogous with the pile of IKEA mirror tiles I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been planning to hang in my kitchen to keep grease off of the walls, and the meters of fabric from the unfinished sewing projects of the past year. I start many DIY projects because I take extreme pride in saying that I created something that I like and use daily, and I like it when a great portion of what I own comes with a good story. Yet I fail to finish about half of these projects\u00e2\u20ac\u201dif not due to some unforeseen obstacle like missing a vital tool, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because life just tends to get ahead of me. I intend to conquer my Closet Abyss of Unfinished Projects this spring; I want to assure my eventual successor that they will have an apartment setup that they love, because of all the love that I put into it. And… I suppose we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d enjoy living in a finished apartment for a while as well.<\/p>\n
One of these projects is to put that soil to use by starting a garden this spring. We hope to grow most of our own food one day, but I could use the practice keeping things alive first. I had hoped to snag us an allotment at our city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s community garden, but the dream was dashed when I was told that all the plots were occupied (a trend I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doubt is common, but you should check with your community garden anyway!<\/a>). And while we could probably get away with a renegade garden at our sparsely managed teacher housing, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to ruffle anyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feathers.<\/p>\n So, that leaves our most attainable option as having a garden at our apartment, but…. eh…. not on the balcony. Of course, outdoors *is* probably the ideal location for plants, but there is one major obstacle\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI am terrified of insects. Well…. insects with more than 6 legs. I dare not name them, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all over my building by April. In our sultry Japanese summers, the shade of a cool, soil-filled pot on the balcony is the ideal resting place for a tired, terrifying predator. I received a few uninvited visitors last spring, and after enlisting the help of the nearest male on hand, I took additional effort to bug-proof my apartment. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty ironclad now that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten rid of the balcony plants.<\/p>\n It would therefore appear that having an indoor garden<\/strong> seems like my best bet. Indoor gardens improve air quality, regulate humidity and eliminate stale odors. Personally, though, aside from the few bonsai trees we have around, I find little appeal in keeping plants that aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t particularly useful…. I want plants that I can eat and slather everywhere. Below is my list: most of these plants are pretty ubiquitous, so there should be no problem finding them in local garden centers (or on amazon.co.jp).<\/p>\n Botanicals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ideal Container: a large-ish pot (4L or more)<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: lavender originates from arid climates, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best not to keep soil damp all the time. Pro tips here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ideal Container: start your little guy off in a small pot, and increase the size as the plant gets bigger. Also, they prefer clay pots to plastic.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: lots of light makes for a happy aloe, but they also do okay in areas that get partial sun.<\/p>\n Special notes: don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use bokashi on these guys; they are a succulent, and need dry, barren soil to survive. Also, seeds aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really available commercially; grow aloe from cuttings of other plants, or buy a starter plant.<\/p>\n Herbs<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ideal Container: 4L pot<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: do NOT plant mint with anything else; mint can become invasive and harmful to other plants and should be alone in its own pot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ideal Container: 4L pot, but they do OK in slightly smaller pots as well.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: trim leaves and use them often! They should replace themselves pretty frequently.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Food<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ideal Container: the deeper, the better. I plan to try mine in milk cartons.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: dwarf varieties do better indoors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ideal Container: similar to carrots, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll only grow as large as their containers. Deep is good.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight.<\/p>\n Special notes: Daikon are very watery and like to drink a lot, so stay on top of watering.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ideal Container: anything will do; jars, shallow planter boxes, etc. But if you want to grow onion bulbs, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need a 5 gallon pot.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: you can actually re-grow them without soil (in a jar of water), but not indefinitely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ideal Container: pretty much anything!\u00e2\u20ac\u201cplanter boxes, small pots, large pots… whatever you have.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: they really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to need much care; you can throw your seeds in a pot, water it, and expect something to grow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tomatoes<\/strong><\/a> need a lot of light, but the smaller varieties tend to do well indoors. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re crafty, you could even make a double surfaced planter, growing your <\/em>herbs on top and tomatoes on bottom<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Ideal Container: 20L pots are ideal, but they can grow okay in 4L containers.<\/p>\n Ideal Lighting: full sunlight<\/p>\n Special notes: tomatoes prefer plastic or ceramic pots to terra cotta; unfinished clay pots release moisture too quickly for these thirsty fellas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pasteurizing your soil<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re buying soil from a store, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good idea to pasteurize it before planting. Doing so is pretty easy in the kitchen with an oven or microwave<\/a>, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll help ensure that no stray insect eggs find their way to hatching indoors. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t overcook it, though! You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to kill good enzymes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So that I can avoid a higher electric bill, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made an effort to select plants that require light that I can provide them, but if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re anxious to have something that requires lots of light, grow lights<\/a> are always an option. On the other hand, if you aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t on poor terms with insects like me and want to keep your plants outdoors, more power to you!<\/p>\n I do, however, plan to implement a wick watering system<\/a> for all of these guys (except the aloe and lavender). Wick watering allows plants to get the water that they need despite my laziness.<\/p>\n Gardening Apps<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n While these plants are pretty basic in terms of care, I doubt I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll succeed if left to my own devices. Thankfully, I live with a man who is always longing to keep his hands in the dirt, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to do my own work independently, and let him have his own plant fun. For this reason, I am calling technology to my aid. So far, the best free apps I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve tried (sorry Appleseeds, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m an Android girl) are called Botanica<\/a>, Ledsen<\/a>, Garden Manager<\/a> and Green:Drop<\/a>. None of them are perfect, so if I (or you) find a better one, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be sure to put it in the comments.<\/p>\n Is starting with nine plants too ambitious? I sure hope not. Spring starts on the 21st, so if those among you with more experience have any advice or suggestions, send \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcem my way.<\/p>\n miso.green.ht@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Outside of my apartment building sits our soil factory box. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s half-filled with incredible planting soil\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe result of a year and a half of bokashi composting by the two of us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually quite astonishing to see over a year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s food scraps broken down to such a minimal volume! But the reason that I know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":2500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"categories":[334,308],"tags":[323,336],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Youll-never-be-lonely-with-an-indoor-garden..jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Youll-never-be-lonely-with-an-indoor-garden.-300x211.jpg\" "\\"You'll")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mushi-B-Gone-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Mushi-B-Gone\\"")
<\/a>Lavender<\/a><\/strong>, aside from looking and smelling good, makes an <\/em>excellent insect repellent<\/em><\/a>. To add to the potency of your potted flowers, you can also harvest some to make lavender essential oil to spray in and around your apartment for additional protection. I also recommend throwing the occasional sprig in the pot when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re steaming vegetables.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/I-dont-know-how-aloe-yogurt-is-so-delicious.-Its-probably-more-the-sugar-than-the-aloe.-150x150.jpg\" "\\"I")
<\/a>Aloe vera<\/a><\/strong> is well known for being soothing and wonderful on damaged skin, but the gel can even be used for hairstyling. Furthermore, I never want to feel the desire to buy prepackaged aloe yogurt again.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mushi-B-Gone-type-2-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Mushi-B-Gone")
<\/a>Mint<\/a><\/strong> makes for a delicious, energizing caffeine-free tea, and is a staple flavoring in holiday candies and Southeast Asian cuisine. However, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not a huge fan of the flavor, it serves as another well-touted <\/em>insect repellent<\/em><\/a>. Use the extract to spray around your building to help keep critters at bay.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/I-once-tried-basil-ume-sorbet...not-as-bad-as-youd-imagine.-150x150.jpg\" "\\"I")
<\/a>Basil<\/a><\/strong> pesto that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t effing 800 yen for a single-serving jar\u00e2\u20ac\u201dneed I say more?<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/I-was-shocked-to-find-that-baby-carrots-were-their-own-variety.-Theyre-not-just-tiny-cut-carrots-150x150.jpg\" "\\"I")
<\/a>Carrots<\/a><\/strong> are notoriously easy to grow indoors- or, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the impression that I get from <\/em>these kits<\/em><\/a> that I see everywhere. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect them to get big, but oh, the pride you can take in making a tiny vegetable soup that you grew yourself!<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/These-are-not-daikon.-Hope-I-fool-some-of-you.-150x150.jpg\" "\\"These")
<\/a>Daikon<\/a><\/strong>, on the other hand can grow rather large indoors, under the right circumstances. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Naggy-negi-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Naggy")
<\/a>Green onion<\/a><\/strong> growing doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even require seeds\u00e2\u20ac\u201dyou can plant what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already purchased from a grocery store, and keep a constant supply.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/If-you-grow-Swiss-chard-in-Japan-is-it-still-Swiss-150x150.jpg\" "\\"If")
<\/a>Salad greens<\/a><\/strong>, <\/strong>spinach<\/strong><\/a>, and <\/strong>swiss chard<\/strong><\/a> do surprisingly well indoors, even in the winter.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/I-always-feel-bad-when-I-see-Kyari-shoot-him-in-the-video.-300x204.jpg\" "\\"I")
<\/a>Equipment<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n