Need advice on plants for indoor garden!

[Knight_of_Avalon]

I'd really like to have a small little garden in my room once I've moved into it.. It's something I've always been interested and am only now getting the space for. BUT, it needs to be bird safe (obviously). Now I have no intention of letting my bird eat the plants at will, but in the case that I've briefly left the room or something I want to make sure that it won't have a deadly outcome if he sneaks over and steals a nibble...
I was looking at hen and chicks, Aloe vera, carrots, maybe some mint (haven't decided on that), and possibly further down the line confederate Jasmine, which I've read is not part of the Jasmine family but it doesn't say if it's safe for birds.
SO, What my long winded question is, have any of you had experience in this/any opinions? I know carrots themselves are okay, but what about the green part of it?
Thank you all for any help you can give! I appreciate it!

 

[chris-md]

I'd stick with herbs.

Heres the problem with what you are proposing (speaking as a former horticulturist specializing in growing plants indoors, particularly tropicals) - much of what you are proposing are either full sun plants, and/or are hardy plants that unquestionably REQUIRE a cold dormancy to survive (hens and chicks for example). Putting them in your brightest window will help prolong the inevitable, but it's still inevitable.

Trying to grow these plants indoors creates a serious amount of stress on them, which will invariably lead to plant pests, if no just weak growth or outright plant failure.

I say this not to deter you, but to prepare you that they won't do as well as you would like and there's nothing you can really do. It could still be a fun exercise and you'll have some plants that look beautiful for a few months. You're best bet is to do some herbs, though many may succumb to mealybug after a few months, or just lose a lot of lower leaves.

 

[Knight_of_Avalon]

Yeah, I've been reading things similar, but I figure that at the very least the Aloe vera will do well (my mom has had one for years).
Thank you for the information though!! .
Do you have any suggestions for herbs then? I originally thought of that but I wasn't really sure about what would work and all bird non-toxic lists didn't really have any listed.

 

[ZephyrFly]

Chris, feel free to chime in but I've read spider plants are safe and from what i remember when we used to have them growing up they are fairly good indoor plants. It will multiply, we were always trying to give them away cus there were so many at times. They look great in hanging pots too.

 

[Knight_of_Avalon]

Chris, feel free to chime in but I've read spider plants are safe and from what i remember when we used to have them growing up they are fairly good indoor plants. It will multiply, we were always trying to give them away cus there were so many at times. They look great in hanging pots too.

I've read that too, they've been on every 'safe' list and I've heard from other people not just online that they make decently good indoor plants and are quite common.
Thank you for your input!

 

[chris-md]

You are correct,but spider plant was not what I was envisioning based on the OPs original list of plants they were interested in.

 

[Knight_of_Avalon]

Well, technically spider plant wasn't exactly what I had envisioned either for short term (currently thinking more edibles, but am open to others), but long term it's definitely on the table.