Providing a tropical green space for the community

The last incarnation of our interior garden was planting in 2014 after we had to do a lot of work to get up to date with all the right fire safety regulations for whats classified as a 'public building'. 

Now, after 10 years as a very versatile and well used public space, the indoor garden space now needs the soil replacing, the grow lights definitely need an upgrade, and a professional look at light suited plants to give colour and structure. 

The Proposed Upgrade

There are 3 elements in the proposed upgrade:

• LED agricultural lights ~ Grow light technology has developed a great deal since the last lights were installed 14 years ago. Direction adjustable lights now give more power at a more appropriate spectrum, and less heat at a far lower cost. This will give a much better sustainable environment for a wider variety of plants.

• Replacing the soil ~ The growing areas amongst the ornamental rocks was filled with a low quality soil 10 years ago has become compacted. This has lowered the soil level by 30cm, and left it very depleted in nutrients. We plan to remove all the old soil, and replace with new.

• Planned planting ~ Until now, there has been no planned planting in the ground area around the rocks. It's been more of a hap hazard whatever-can-be-found approach to planting. With planted planting, the ground growing area can become a more dense and structured area of colour with plants that can flourish under dedicated lighting. We hope to save and replant some of the plants we already have, but how many of them will survive the adjustment is hard to predict.

A little history of our indoor garden