How not to kill your plants
sneak peak: one simple, easy to follow piece of advice for plant care - don't overwater your plants
In an era of seemingly universal plant-ownership, there is one question that is at the forefront of everyone's minds. Okay, not everyone's, but mine at least, and fairly regularly too.
As the proud owner of seventeen plants and three herbs (only one of which (parsley, the worst one) has deigned to peek out above soil-level), I like to think I can now confidently keep a plant alive. Gone are the days of university me, when even a simple succulent was too much of a challenge. Yes, succulents, the failsafe unkillable plants, were destined for a shrivelled and crumbly end in my care.
The question at the forefront of my and potentially your mind? Listen up: how do I keep my plants alive?
There are many nuanced and very specific answers that other people are far better placed than me to give, but from my not-so-limited-any-more experience, there is one key piece of advice to remember:
Don't overwater your plants.
As in, if in doubt, do nothing. If your plant is wilting, do nothing. If it is going yellow and then brown, do nothing. If it is droopy and eeyore-like, do nothing. Essentially, if it is ailing in any way, do nothing.
Obviously I need to caveat this fairly broad-brush suggestion with 'make sure your plant is getting the right amount of light' and 'open or close windows to give your plant the ideal temperature' and 'give your plant fertiliser at appropriate intervals' and 'plant your plant in its favourite kind of soil' and other such useful things, but the main point that is the downfall of plants everywhere is overwatering.
A plant is much more likely to go funny and become ultimately unsalvageable (depending on your plant salvation threshold) from overwatering than from underwatering. Research the ones you've got and how much they need, and you may be surprised to find it's a lot less than you thought. Then again, maybe not everyone is so unnatural with plants and you might be perfectly capable of judging the right amount of water to give them, I don't know, but I'm impressed if you are.
And that, my friends, is that. Happy planting! The end!
In an era of seemingly universal plant-ownership, there is one question that is at the forefront of everyone's minds. Okay, not everyone's, but mine at least, and fairly regularly too.
As the proud owner of seventeen plants and three herbs (only one of which (parsley, the worst one) has deigned to peek out above soil-level), I like to think I can now confidently keep a plant alive. Gone are the days of university me, when even a simple succulent was too much of a challenge. Yes, succulents, the failsafe unkillable plants, were destined for a shrivelled and crumbly end in my care.
The question at the forefront of my and potentially your mind? Listen up: how do I keep my plants alive?
There are many nuanced and very specific answers that other people are far better placed than me to give, but from my not-so-limited-any-more experience, there is one key piece of advice to remember:
Don't overwater your plants.
As in, if in doubt, do nothing. If your plant is wilting, do nothing. If it is going yellow and then brown, do nothing. If it is droopy and eeyore-like, do nothing. Essentially, if it is ailing in any way, do nothing.
Obviously I need to caveat this fairly broad-brush suggestion with 'make sure your plant is getting the right amount of light' and 'open or close windows to give your plant the ideal temperature' and 'give your plant fertiliser at appropriate intervals' and 'plant your plant in its favourite kind of soil' and other such useful things, but the main point that is the downfall of plants everywhere is overwatering.
A plant is much more likely to go funny and become ultimately unsalvageable (depending on your plant salvation threshold) from overwatering than from underwatering. Research the ones you've got and how much they need, and you may be surprised to find it's a lot less than you thought. Then again, maybe not everyone is so unnatural with plants and you might be perfectly capable of judging the right amount of water to give them, I don't know, but I'm impressed if you are.
And that, my friends, is that. Happy planting! The end!
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