Easy summer houseplant watering
Do you worry about how to care for your houseplant collection while you are enjoying some time away from home? I know I do, I have quite a collection of house plants.
Here are my top tips for keeping your house plants flourishing while you are away.
Keep your plants Hydrated!
Might seem an obvious one to start with, but make sure that your beautiful house plants are well hydrated but not standing in water. Our best tip for this is to collect all your plants up and pop them in the bath or shower. Fill the bath with about an inch to 2 inches of water and leave them for up to an hour. Then empty the bath and allow the plants to drain before popping them back in their usual homes.
Below we have suggested a few of our favourite methods to keep your houseplants happy until you return!
The Bottle Method
If you have any empty bottles (glass or plastic) this is a great method for easy watering!
- Simply fill your chosen clean bottle with water.
- pop your finger over the spout before you turn it upside down and then push the bottle neck into the soil around your plant, removing your finger from the neck of the bottle!
- Push the neck of the bottle firmly into the soil so it’s a couple of inches in.
- You can draw a line on the bottle to keep an eye on the water level
- Pop back to your plant a little later just to make sure the water is draining into the plant.
If you don’t have an abundance of bottles you can purchase ‘watering globes’
Water Wick
This method is also a great way to keep your plants happy while you are away. It just takes a little practice!
You will need
-a container (a glass, cup, vase or something similar)
- fabric, twine or plastic tubing to act as a wick
-a cover (clingfilm or tape) to stop evaporation from your container.
- Fill your container with water and place your wick in the container, making sure it touches the bottom.
- You want to top of the water container to be higher than your plant pot, (you may need to pop your water container on a saucer to add some height!)
- Push the wick into the plant soil, about three inches
- Try to position out of direct sunlight, to minimise evaporation. Or cover your water container with cling film or tape.
However you are spending the beautiful days in August we hope you have a fabulous time and that your houseplants look glorious on your return.
Until next time,
Hayley
