The house 工場／植物 you should NEVER buy as it always dies - 加える how to make yours 繁栄する, by gardening 専門家s
It began with an avocado 工場／植物.
I remember when I bought it, about two years ago, the two women behind the shop 反対する giggled わずかに.
I looked at them. ‘It’s very big, it’ll need space,’ said one. ‘And light!’ said the other.
It was February, unsunny, and my bedroom had just about the square （映画の）フィート数 for a bed and nothing else. Still, I didn’t listen. I paid my £30 and carried my avocado 工場／植物 負かす／撃墜する the hill from Archway to my flat in Finsbury Park. (If you don’t know the 地理学 of North London, that is not a very long way, but, carrying a 巨大（な） avocado 工場／植物, it feels endless.)
At home, I wedged the 工場／植物 beside my bed, next to the window. My flatmate looked at it and said, ‘I give it a week’. After two days, I noticed a 関心ing brown avocado leaf lying, with curled 辛勝する／優位s, on my bedroom 床に打ち倒す. Then another. Then another. A week after that, I put the ? now almost leafless ? 工場／植物 in the garden and decided I’d let nature do its thing. Within a few hours a gust of 勝利，勝つd had knocked my avocado 工場／植物 over, 流出／こぼすing dark 乾燥した，日照りの 国／地域 across the patio.
I binned it and bought something smaller: a spindly purple orchid. The man in the shop said not to water it too much. I nodded, and then left the flower on the windowsill above the radiator. It was dead within a week, too.
Now I am living in a different flat. For a long time, this home had no 工場／植物s, just 偽の flowers. (The £10 偽造の tulips from TK Maxx are excellent.) But I seem to be the only one; house 工場／植物s are everywhere.?
Last month, Tesco 明らかにする／漏らすd its indoor 工場／植物 sales had 増加するd by 130 per cent since 2019. In 返答, B&Q’s 長，率いる of buying, Mairi Devlin, said that house 工場／植物s ‘have a real 控訴，上告 to young people because it’s a 最高の, 最高の 平易な first foray into keeping something alive’, which, as a young person with a history of 殺人，大当り indoor 工場／植物s, I find ‘最高の, 最高の’ grating.
So I bought a £10 peace lily from Ikea?and 解決するd to keep it alive. For help, I speak to two 専門家s: James Field, an aptly 指名するd gardener from Sussex, and Sarah Gerrard-Jones, author of The 工場／植物 救助者, who has more than 400,000 Instagram 信奉者s. Here are their tips.
Stop overwatering
Many people think 工場／植物s need to be watered every day. They don’t. When I speak to Gerrard-Jones earlier this month, she says, ‘This is my yucca,’ gesturing to an enormous, healthy-looking tree behind her. ‘I’ve only watered it four times since November.’ The best way to check if a 工場／植物 needs watering is to put your finger inside the 国／地域. If it’s 乾燥した，日照りの on the surface but damp underneath, leave it alone; if it’s still 乾燥した，日照りの a few centimetres 負かす／撃墜する, 追加する water.
‘A lot of people 断言する by using rainwater,’ says Field. Because tap water has an ? admittedly very low ? 量 of chlorine in it. The most important thing is to make? sure the water is ‘not hot and not 冷淡な ? nothing that’s too shocking for the? ? 工場／植物’.?
Also, make sure it’s in a マリファナ that’s 解放する／自由な-draining (so one with 穴を開けるs in the 底（に届く）, which you then place on 最高の，を越す?of a saucer). ‘You don’t want your 工場／植物 to be sitting in a pool of water.’
Step away from the mister
工場／植物 sprayers might look professional but they have ‘no proven 利益’, says Gerrard-Jones. ‘People think that もやing 工場／植物s makes the 環境 湿気の多い [which 促進するs growth]. However, you can’t just make a room 湿気の多い by spritzing water in it.’ What’s more, もやing can be dangerous.?
‘Unless windows are open, we don’t have much 空気／公表する 循環／発行部数 in our homes. 特に in winter. So, if you’re もやing your 工場／植物s, the water will just sit on the leaves, which can 原因（となる） bacterial growth.’
Field agrees. ‘You don’t want to get water on the leaves or the 茎・取り除く of your 工場／植物. It’s a recipe for 病気.’ Instead, he 示唆するs using a わずかに damp cloth to 小衝突 off any dust from your 工場／植物’s leaves (this 許すs them to 吸収する more l ight). Gerrard-Jones goes その上の; she 小衝突s her 工場／植物s with a toothbrush or a 手渡す-held vacuum cleaner switched to a gentle setting.
Let there be light
‘People always say to me: “Oh, but my 工場／植物s are in a really 有望な room.” That means nothing to a 工場／植物! Most need to be within a few feet of a window, really, to 栄える,’ says Gerrard-Jones.?
‘So, wherever you have placed your 工場／植物, 選ぶ it up ‘and move it closer to the window’. Field also 示唆するs 回転／交替ing the position of your house 工場／植物s around the home 公正に／かなり 定期的に. (‘It gives them variety.’)
If you don’t have natural light, buy a 工場／植物 lamp that replicates it (Gathera.co.uk sells a 始める，決める for £22). And, if 人工的な 日光 感情を害する／違反するs your green-fingered 原則s, try a ZZ 工場／植物 (Zamioculcas zamiifolia), which 許容するs a wide 範囲 of light 条件s. ‘It’s a slow grower if it’s in a low light, but it will be 罰金 as long as you don’t water it too much,’ says Gerrard-Jones.
Say no to calatheas
‘My heart 沈むs when I see somebody 選ぶing up a calathea,’ says Gerrard-Jones. ‘I just want to 叫び声をあげる at them: “Nooooooo!”. They have beautiful leaves ? stripy and purple with fancy patterns ? but I don’t think they should be sold as house 工場／植物s.
?Our homes are 簡単に not 権利 for them. You’ll never see an old calathea. They are a nightmare! 避ける, 避ける, 避ける.’ As an 代案／選択肢, she 示唆するs the 類似の-looking but hardier maranta.
避ける radiators
You might think ? as I did with my ill-運命／宿命d orchid ? that 工場／植物s like warmth. But leaving them on 最高の，を越す of a radiator is a terrible idea, says Gerrard-Jones. 時折起こる, 激しい bursts of heat can 原因（となる） 工場／植物s to ‘stretch and look a bit 半端物’. Worse, radiators 原因（となる） evaporation. It means that, when you water your 工場／植物, the radiator might 乾燥した，日照りの it out before your 工場／植物 has had the time to drink it. Eek.
Forget flowers
Flowering 工場／植物s are lovely, but they might
be too high 維持／整備 for a beginner. ‘I’d go leafy over flower,’ says Field. ‘Succulents are a nice starter. Small and spiky. They might not be 特に beautiful, but if you’re setting out on your 工場／植物 旅行 they’re a good place to start.’ As for where to buy 工場／植物s, Field recommends your 地元の garden centre, but also 率s 示すs & Spencer and Waitrose.?
Gerrard-Jones likes online shop Mintplants.co.uk, which has a ‘救助（する）d’ cacti section selling secondhand?or, as she puts it, ‘円熟した’ 工場／植物 見本／標本s.
Failing that, the £10 偽造の tulips from TK Maxx really are excellent.
マリファナs that 攻撃する，衝突する the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す
Ceramic planter, £17.99, amazon.co.uk;?Bamboo マリファナ 支えるもの／所有者, £65, heavenlyhomesandgardens.co.uk;?Ceramic planter, £15, matalan.co.uk
Follow James Field on X @GardeningGent and Sarah Gerrard-Jones on Instagram @theplantrescuer
