The Lazy Girls Guide to Plant Care

Because we’re not all born with green fingers.

In typical millennial fashion I am obsessed with succulents and indoor plants. It all started with one that I picked up at my local garden center to spruce up mine and the Mr’s first rental, having no experience of how to keep them alive and thinking it might die within a few months. However it didn’t, it kept on growing and so did my collection. They weren’t all success stories but I have now learnt how to not kill the ‘technically unkillable plant’.

I haven’t branched out into house plants so this is very succulent and cactus based. I have a very ‘lazy girl’ approach to my plants and I’m sure there are lots of bits and bobs I don’t do but if you’re looking for how to care for some easy greenery in your house then here are my top 5 tips and tricks.

Make sure you’re buying the right plants for the right environment. I am an indoor plant person as I don’t have a balcony or outdoor space so make sure you’re getting the right ones, otherwise they won’t thrive.

Work out a watering schedule. As a general rule during the hotter months I water my plants every week, on Watering Wednesday. When it’s colder, it’s every other week. I’m sure it should be more advanced than that but this works for me. I do use Cactus Focus Food every other watering, I only recently started doing this and they survived just fine before so if you can’t get your hands on it then it’s not the end of the world.

Mist your plants during the hotter months. I bought a mister only a few weeks ago to help one of my air plants – which deserve a blog post all on their own – but it’s also great for succulents when they might need extra water outside of their watering schedule. I only use this on succulents not on my cacti – it’s also apparently good on orchids.

Re-pot your green friends. I do this every two years or when I feel they’ve outgrown their pots. If they have ‘offspring’ then re-pot those as well, they are the perfect waste free gift. You don’t necessarily need to move them to a larger pot but just to give them new soil which contains the nutrients they need.

Speaking of soil, make sure to use the correct soil when potting and re-potting. I do top up with old soil or generic garden center soil but where the roots are settling you need to have the right soil. I use the Cactus Focus Repotting Soil which I pick up from my local garden center.

And there you have it, that’s how I keep my plants alive and well in my tiny London flat. If you’ve got any pointers that you think I’m missing out on then let me know. I also really want to add some more plants to my collection and would love any recommendations on easy to look after houseplants.