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Window Selection for Indoor Window Gardens
As we all know, plants need sunlight. Some do fine with only a little bit of light, and some need 12 hours of direct sunlight every day. Also, some windows get lots of sunlight and some get little or none. It is important to either match the plants you grow with a window that provides enough light, or to match the window you want to decorate with plants that will thrive on the light it can provide. Each of the gardening kits sold by TealCo.net includes specific information about whatever plants its seeds grow.
Many plants require more sunlight than can be made available indoor with only a window. These plants would require supplemental, artificial sunlight to grow well indoors, regardless of what window you put them near. TealCo.net does not sell any garden kits that require more light than a window can provide.
As the sun rises and falls, the direction a window faces directly affects how much light it gets. The earth turns east, so the sun rises on the eastern side of the house/plant/continent and sets on the west side. If you are in the northern hemisphere, the sun's path is slightly south of you, so sunlight will be blocked from northern windows by the building, and vice-versa for the southern hemisphere. The equator is directly perpendicular to the sun's rays of light, so neither northern or southern facing windows get much direct sunlight there. (But the ground outside both windows gets a full day of direct sunlight, and both windows get a full day of indirect sunlight.)
The rest of this text will assume that the reader is in the northern hemisphere. If you are elsewhere, please refer to the previous paragraph and adjust accordingly.
Most flowering plants, and many non-flowering plants, need to be within 3 feet of a sunny, south-facing window.
Plants that prefer bright, indirect light should be 3 to 5 feet away from a south-facing window, or within 3 feet of an east- or west-facing window.
Plants that need only diffused, indirect light can be placed 6 to 8 feet away from a southern window, or within a foot of a northern window.
During the winter months, you should move all of your plants closer to the window in order to compensate for the decrease in light.
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