Gardening Tips

When it comes to taking care of your house plants many people overly stress thinking that they might over water or give to much fertilizer to their plants. With a little common sense and learning these six basic things on plant care, there is nothing to worry about.

Art of Watering

The basic rule on watering: Don’t over-water your house plants. Test by putting your finger in the soil. You can tell if it is dry or not.

If the soil feels damp then you don’t need to water it. If it’s dry then you’ll need to water it.

Make sure your container plants have good drainage. You don’t want the bottom of your plant container sitting in water especially if the water is unable to drain.

Now, if you are new or uncertain about your skills, then keep a notebook with specific information on how much and how often to water.

When To Feed Your Plants

Here is some basics on feeding your plants. If you have foliage plants, they will require a high nitrogen need. For flowering plants, they need to have K20. You can prepare slow release fertilizer which can be mixed with compost.

Of course there are certain plants that will need special fertilizers such as cacti and orchids. Unlike we humans and our pets who can just about eat anytime, plants like to fed during their most active growth period.

When does that happen?

Easy, you will need to educate yourself and find this information at the library, gardening magazines and on the internet just to name a few handy resources.

The In’s and Outs of Proper Lighting

By determining where the light enters your home, you will also need to know how intense or how far the light will penetrates each room in your home.

Learn which areas in your home have the most exposure as well as the least exposure. Keep in mind that sunlight exposure is different in each season such as longer sunlight in the summer versus shorter light exposure during the winter.

Then decide what types of house plants will fit those unique locations.
Read the labels that are provided on the plant to find the best type of light.
Some plants like the sansevieria and aspidistra require no sun so place those plants away from windows. Plants that require semi shade can be placed just about anywhere whether near a window with sun light or not.

The Importance of Temperature

Normally house plants are fairly hearty as they can adapt to cool or warm temperatures. The key to remember is that they do not like drastic changes in the temperature. If they don’t look well it’s either the temperature, too much water or they need to be fed.

For some reason most plants cannot survive in a home with gas heating so definitely keep them away from the gas heater. Like wise if you have a plant that thrives in warm conditions, keep it away from air conditioners during the summer months. Make sense?

Creating The Perfect Humidity

If you get a plant the requires a humid environment you can create more humidity by using a large container and fill in the gaps with stones or compost to retain the moisture. Another method to humidify conditions is to create a micro-climate by grouping your plants together.

Depending on the type of plants you have you can also spray them once or twice a day keeping in mind the temperature of your area. Just be sure not to spray water on orchids as they can easily rot the flowers.

Tips On Re-potting

Certain plants will need to be re-potted for them to get optimal growth.

Other plants just cannot take the shock of re-potting and will experience root shock. Then there are plants with small roots systems that don’t have to be re-potted.

The best way to inspect your plant for a re-potting job is to turn the plant upside down and tap the pot to release the plant and check the roots.

If there is a good mixture of soil and roots then you don’t need to do anything for a while.

If you see nothing but roots then you can start your re-potting project.

Now if you don’t have a larger pot then you can trim the roots but it is suggested that your re-pot to a larger one.

By providing little tender loving care for your plants, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of your indoor garden. Not only that but you’ll add to the beauty of your decor and also get much pleasure being the indoor gardener.