My mom recently relocated and there was one thing that she was missing, she had always had a vegetable garden so we did our best to accommodate her.
We offered to let her use a section of our yard and as many of the gardening tools that we had, but she said she was still missing a very important part the process.
She has always been a person who cooks from scratch and she desperately wanted an herb garden that she could maintain year-round. Seeing as we live in the Northeast, this seemed an impossible task. My husband, who enjoys mom’s cooking, was determined to find a way to make it happen. He found grow lights and built shelving in the basement so that they could set up an indoor greenhouse type of a setting. He didn’t realize, however, that the introduction of fresh air was needed in order to make the plants happy. Most basements in our area don’t even have windows so we had to purchase a ventilation unit have our HVAC technician install it. The unit filters out any impurities in the air and draws in outside air to provide what the plants need. The air passes through a section of the ductwork so that it is not freezing cold when it enters the basement area. Mom is thrilled with the space and has promised to keep us supplied with herbs for our own use too. This makes me very happy too. I can simply go into the basement and snip a few sprigs of whatever I need. It is totally worth the investment in the additional HVAC equipment and everyone is happy.