Our Favorite Gadgets for Plant Parents
How was it that I, an expert gardener, couldn’t hold her houseplants alive? There, within the mirror’s reflection, my peace lily sagged, my begonia browned, my African violets pouted whereas bugs circled their leaves like vultures. Despite residing by a vibrant window in a heat room, my houseplants resented me. I used to be an absent plant mother, by no means house, too busy trimming and tidying extra necessary, outside-world crops to offer my very own youngsters sufficient consideration. And it confirmed.
But I wasn’t going to surrender my day job, or the house backyard I liked puttering in on weekends. “If only I had a houseplant nanny,” I informed my husband. “Like someone who knows a bit about horticulture to come by and care for my indoor plants.” He crinkled his eyebrows. “Aren’t you the plant nanny?”
He was proper. It was a contact absurd to rent somebody to do the very factor I knew methods to do greatest. Then once more, with a job, three youngsters, 4 pets, and a life usually, I had little time to water, keep in mind when I’d watered, kill bug eggs with alcohol, determine lighting issues, and on and on. Just fascinated about it overwhelmed me. Ten extra issues for me to do. Well, possibly 4, however hey, it felt like ten.
Finally, after months of anxiety-inducing, half-assed houseplant care, I discovered a key piece of the puzzle. I didn’t want a human plant nanny. I wanted a man-made one. So I began experimenting with tech for houseplant upkeep. To say the least, life modified. For the best way higher.
After a number of false begins, I found six issues that perform as a type of houseplant nanny equipment. They now hold my crops not solely alive, however wholesome and blissful. That, in fact, means I’m wholesome and blissful too.
What Did I Just Buy?
Photograph: Johannes Mann/Getty Images
Let’s say you have been on the grocery retailer, noticed an extremely cool plant, misplaced your thoughts, and paid $50, then introduced it house. Great, however what now? A plant identification app can assist. You merely take a photograph, add it, and the app offers you its botanical and customary names. Why is figuring out so necessary? Because if you realize the place your plant grows within the wild, you’ll know methods to hold it blissful at house. You’ll present the proper gentle, water, soil, and meals. You are the god of earth and climate in an indoor residing house, so plan accordingly.
