Read this before you become a plant parent

By Nejla Matam-Finn

At the end of last year, I decided to take up gardening. Of course, this was before I knew how therapeutic it can be. What I also didn’t know was that it was going to keep me sane this year and that it was to become one of the biggest trend of 2020.

My main reason at the time was very matter-of-fact. We were lucky to have balconies and lots of sun and we were not fully taking advantage of them. You see, I grew up with a garden in my childhood home and everything that was put on the table came from it. My 9-year-old, despite being fond of nature, did not fully understand where her food came from - or the hardship and joy that came from growing something on your own.

So, in October 2019, I embarked on a mission of beautifying our balconies with plants and a herb garden. I realised very quickly that I loved it! Gardening became and still is my meditation/yoga session. I called my mother a few times to tap on her advanced knowledge in gardening.

Little by little, iinstead of spending countless hours scrolling through my IG feed for the next fashion trend, I was now following hashtags such us #indoorplants #plantaddict #balconygardens. I’ve also been watching some YouTube videos from plant aficionados such us Planterina. Needless to say, I went into the rabbit hole of purchasing plants after plants.

As of today, I officially stopped counting. Plus, my home is now filled with propagation vases as well.

The one thing that I found rather difficult especially, at the the beginning, was fully understanding the needs that each type of plant had. Most sites online have vague instructions, and this is also not counting the fact that they’re not exactly “tropical-weather friendly" (hello, Singapore!).

Low light or medium light; do not under water or over water; and if your plant has brown leaves you might be overwatering or under watering it. It’s alot to take in. Finally, the coup de grace for me came when I brought back a plant that was suppose to be easy to take care of and it … just died in 48 hours.

This was when I came across The New Plant Parent book by Darryl Cheng. Trust me, if you are going to invest in one book, and especially if you are a beginner, I will tell you to get this one.

Not only is the book written clearly but it is also divided in just 11 chapters of what you are going to need to have thriving plants at home.

Darryl Cheng managed to translate the under watering/overwatering and how to water properly in such clear way that you will now feel super confident about what you are doing when feeding your dear plants. What I liked is that he doesn’t just stop at that. He goes one step further to explain the lighting in a rather scientific way, and this was what really changed my way of gardening. It does involve a light meter but this has really changed not only my way of picking up the plants that will do well in my home but also where to place them.

Now I only wish that the plants that I bring home came with their light range needs in plain number.

Another thing that the book has that worked well is the diagrams that accompanied each chapter. This made is so easy to share the information with my 9 year old who is actively helping me water our plants, fight the infamous mealybugs or even propagate some of the plants we have.

Shopping Time

Like every book of its category, get ready to go shopping because, yes, there are some recommendations on what to have for optimum gardening.

I personally invested in few of his recommendations including the light meter and I have no regret doing so. It really helped me fully understand the light in my home. I even used it in the office where we now have more plants.

My next investment is a watering can from Haws, they are not the cheapest but I really have no regrets purchasing one as I feel that water gets distributed fairly and softly.

Last but not least of the purchases I enjoy is my pruner. A good pruner makes gardening so much easier and safer as you don’t want to be hurting your plants while pruning them.

If you have any gardening resources you enjoy please leave them in the comment section. And happy collecting plants!