I had a sparrow as a pet but it flew away one day.
Then I had a squirrel, it ran away too.
Then planted a tree and they both came back.
The thought goes back to the time when the world had just struck with the awful news about COVID. Mankind was given a time out and everyone was focusing their energy on the home workouts, cooking experiments, and other DIYs. While people were challenging their creativity and physical boundaries, I felt that I was getting more inclined towards nature and greens.
With no daily commutes and more time in hand, I started spending more time in my balcony watching the sunrise, seeing birds flying playfully, watching the blue skies, and sometimes just feeling the wind on my face.
Just during that time, while I started to spend more time on terrace and balconies, I decided to give this left out corner of my home a change.
Believe me, gardening is not a very motivational hobby to start with. I destroyed many plants in the first few months because I was so naïve. A mild appearance of a yellow leaf used to give me a hurricane of stress and anxiety. I started to lose patience, became cranky and obsessed with pampering plants.
But slowly with patience, a lot of internet research and practice I started getting better at plant maintenance and not being able to kill any plant in the last six months. Throughout this one year, I have seen the change in energy of these untouched corners at my home – birds are always chirping around, bees are always buzzing among flowers, and the sight of butterflies is something you don’t want to miss.
If you are a first-time gardener and looking for some low-maintenance plants, Google has landed you on the right page.
In this blog, I am going to tell about just 5 plants that you can begin and hone your gardening skills with. These are easy to maintain yet hard to kill plants that will give you great vibes and positivity to carry on gardening.
1. Sansevieria a.k.a Snake Plant
One of the easy-to-handle plant for your garden. It is meant to keep indoors because it purifies toxic air. Hence called as best recommended air purifying plant by NASA. You can also keep it outside during winters. It can go straight two weeks without any water. So just watch it standing tall in your garden.
Another fact about sansevieria is that it is a type of succulent, needs less water and sunlight to survive. So make sure you keep it away from direct sun and rains.
Common names – snake plant, mother-in-law’s tongue
My personal experience with this plant is to keep it away from water as long as 2 weeks in summer and one month in winter. Let it sit on the corner purifying air.
2. Marigold Plant
Marigold or gainda as you know is the household flower of India. It is used daily in homes for decorations, prayers and as ornamental aesthetics.
The plant grows very fast from spring to early winters. One tip to grow marigold sustainably is to never throw dry marigold flowers from household use. Marigold petals themselves are the carrier of seeds. Just spread them in soil and let the soil dry for few days and within weeks you will see the growth of leaves.
This is a completely outdoor plant. Needs direct sun and daily water once it is fully grown.
My personal experience with this plant is that it's easy to grow and is the only flowering plant that blooms most of the time during the entire year. Must give it abundant sun exposure and water only when the soil dries completely.
3. Indoor Palm
A great medium to tall height plant variety to keep indoors is indoor palm. There are many varieties available depending on their height. The tallest one is called Areca Palm and it can grow as tall as 7 feet, the smaller one is called tabletop or Chinese palm it grows around 2-3 feet.
It is one of the great plant varieties to bring home if you wish to fill in the corners of your room. These demand moderate water but indirect sun so ideal to keep them near window or doors. Also, it removes toxins from the air and keeps the air clean.
My personal experience with this plant is to bring home the baby plant and watch it grow tall with time. Remove brown leaves and water generously whenever the water cycle comes.
4. Money Plant
Money plant or pothos needs no introduction. This is a vine type plant that you often see hanging on house walls. These are kind of creeper plants that grow long if given the right environment. You can easily cut one small part of it and keep it in a bottle full of water and it will start growing then and there.
Planting this plant will help you experience a perfect example of how gardening works.
Varieties: Golden money plant, Marble price, Marble queen, variegated money plant.
Ideal to grow in a hanging basket and Glass bottles kept indoors as well outdoor.
My personal experience with this plant was never disappointing. I brought home a baby size plant and now it has spread longer. In winters I have brought it outdoor while in summer I kept it in shade to avoid heat burn.
5. Jade Plant
Jade Plant is also known as crassula or elephant bush belongs to the succulent family. It needs nothing but direct 6-8 hours of full sun.
It can be kept in an outdoor garden or indoor spaces where sunlight prevails in abundance.
It grows into the look and feels of a bush with sizes varying from small to medium bushes.
It purifies the air and is said to bring good luck and charm to its caretaker.
My personal experience with this plant is just to leave it in open sun and water once every two weeks. It has never died on me but grown bigger with time.
When it comes to gardening, there is just one golden rule - all plants are not the same. Their thirst and sunlight requirements differ.
Plants don’t need water all the time. So turn that hose pipe off and do this trick: Insert a finger in the soil to check the dryness of your plant. If the finger comes out clean with no soil sticking on the skin it means you can water your plant else give it another day or two.
For sunlight, understand that all plants on the earth need sunlight to make their food. Indoor plants require less of it as they are slow-growing plants while outdoor ones need more of it as they grow fast and undergo reproduction via flowering and pollination.
So go out, clear some space, loosen up your pockets and bring home these plant babies.
Watch your plants grow and share your experiences with us.
Next time we will talk about some quick tips and tricks of healthy gardening.
Stay Tuned!
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