I fail at plants...

[thalassa]

Re: I fail at plants...

I've often grown mint with success in a hanging planter by a window, as well as basil, lemon balm (which is a mint family plant), and sage. If you kill plants, don't grow rosemary or lavender...they can be finicky. One thing I've found though...if you are growing them indoors, it helps to have the window open for them, or to have a place to put them outside periodically. I've never been as successful with windowsill gardens as I have balcony ones!

[Shahaku]

Re: I fail at plants...

I'm pretty horrible with plants too. I got a calla lily this last summer and it's actually survived this far. It's not a particularly demanding plant, it lets you know when it needs water by drooping some. But you can't cook with it.

[Asrais]

Re: I fail at plants...

Sorry it took my so long to answer the question, I missed it - my potbellied fig is on my kitchen counter, it gets a fair amount of light, but not direct sunlight. I have had it in darker areas of the house and it did ok, but I find it does better with in direct light.

[tseringdolma]

Re: I fail at plants...

try Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis), it is fairly easy to grow indoors and outdoors and is super hardy. It's got anticeptic properties and also tastes good in salads, ommelettes etc

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: I fail at plants...

I've been lucky with plants - bought my first one in 1984 ( a Maranta, also called rabbit track or prayer plant) and it's still with me. It had pretty much died off last year but there was one little twig left that I just had a feeling had some life in it so I kept watering weekly as always and suddenly new leaves came up. As for herbs, my rosemary always dies off in the fall! I usually have basil, parsley, thyme, & rosemary in the kitchen. The temp./light/water balance can be tricky but once you get it , you're good to go! It can get hotter right next to a sunny window than you realize.
I'm not sure what a pot-bellied fig is.....I'll have to look that one up!

[Farren]

Re: I fail at plants...

likeThalassa said Lemon Balm is good herb, it can be used as a garnish on sorbets and drinks, and when infused can be used as a mild tea to treat digestive problems and anxiety. I would grow it in a pot though, when it gets established it tends to spring up all over the place.
The Marigold is another good choice, its easy to raise, the flowers go nicely in salads, and as an infusion can be either drunk to help sooth premenstrual tension, or applied to the skin to clear the complexion and tone the skin.

[Jembru]

Re: I fail at plants...

My herbs are doing a lot better these days. I think they were forced then had been in the supermarket a while before I brought them home. Adapting to their new conditions took a while. They don't look like textbook speciments, but hey, they're mine! Earlier, my basil told me it was in trouble. Seriously, it called for help the only way a plant can! I was straightening up the livingroom because my mum and niece are planning to visit me, when I became aware of a very strong smell of basil. I thought it was just me at first, but then it just seemed to be stronger and stronger. I guessed it wouldn't hurt to check on my basil. I went into the kitchen and guess what... a very guilty-looking kitten was sitting in the middle of the floor, and my poor basil was in the sink!! It's amazing how strongly scented some herbs are. I mean, to have spelt it from another room. Lucky it had this method of accidental communication and could tell me it was in trouble! ^^

[Asrais]

Re: I fail at plants...

Jembru - there has been some scientific research done (don't ask me where, I just remember reading it some where, I'm sure if you googled it, you'd find it) that said that plants can react with fear, pain and happiness. They hooked up some sort of sensors to the plants and noted their reactions to being cut, the presence of sharp objects, being stroked and talked to etc - makes me a bit paranoid when I have to give my plants a trim, I find myself talking them through it!! lol

I'm glad you managed to save your poor basil from your kitten! I have two cats and a puppy, I'm surprised I manage to grow anything!

This is a pic of my potbellied fig, for those who were curious. Ignore the little elf, he just stopped there for a nap
IMG00314.jpg

About 3 weeks ago, the fig was looking very sorry for itself, so I pruned off all the leaves, leaving only the new shoots and gave it a good feed with an organic multipurpose food, and sure enough, this is what it looks like today - I'm tellin ya, they can't be killed!

[Jembru]

Re: I fail at plants...

Jembru - there has been some scientific research done (don't ask me where, I just remember reading it some where, I'm sure if you googled it, you'd find it) that said that plants can react with fear, pain and happiness. They hooked up some sort of sensors to the plants and noted their reactions to being cut, the presence of sharp objects, being stroked and talked to etc - makes me a bit paranoid when I have to give my plants a trim, I find myself talking them through it!! lol

I'm glad you managed to save your poor basil from your kitten! I have two cats and a puppy, I'm surprised I manage to grow anything!

Well, I haven't looked very deeply into the research but I do know from my scholarly background (read, 'by watching the panel show QI'), that it was discovered that the acacia will release a kind of 'panic hormone' when it is being grazed on by giraffes or other animals that have evolved ways around the acacias impressive lines of defence. This, apparently, triggers other plants in the area to release a response hormone, as though warning them that danger is coming.

Now, do I really believe there is a genuine fear or distress from the plant? I'm pretty open-minded these days, not so gullible as I was as a teenwitch, not as overly sceptical about everything as I was in my mid-late twenties, but basically willing to at least accept the possibility of many things others would find preposterous. So yes, maybe. However, the most likely thing that is happening, without having delved far enough into the research, is that this is about speeding up the healing of the plant after damage has occurred. Just like we have platelets to seal wounds and protect them while healing accures, so too, do plants have a mechanism of sealing of the dead end so that new plant growth can occur. This is probably what the acacia releases, something to trigger this healing. The other acacias pick up the chemical with their own hormone receptors, and begin to release their own, ready for the onslaught.

There are many things we don't fully grasp about how plants work. They are quite remarkable organisms. I remember when I was in college, being told scientists had detected the chemicals but not the mechanism, that lets a seed know what way around it is in the ground. There were good theories, but nothing solid. I imagine we fully understand how it works now, it's been a while and I'm out of the science loop these days. But this kind of thing was really fascinating.

As for the plant reacting just to nearby scissors, that's weird and I would definitely have to check the data on that one. Sounds like it may have been a biased test, or something else was at play (scissors recently being used on the same kind of plant, so being coated in what I amateurishly referred to as 'panic hormone' earlier.

Still, those with caring natures could do worse than sooth and speak to plants. If nothing else, it has a positive impact on us. If plants do have feelings, they'll be happy for the attention, if they do, the carbon dioxide wouldn't go amiss.

[Asrais]

Re: I fail at plants...

While looking for the plants have feelings article, I found this - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...ally-talk.html which talks about similar chemical communication, but also "clicks" that plants use to communicate. Taken with a grain of salt, of course, but I definately think there is more to plants than we realise.

We also have to consider, for those of us who spend time chatting with our plants, the positive impact may not be from talking to it, or stroking it's leaves (I do this all the time, people think I'm wierd, I go around garden centres stroking plants before I decide which to buy!) but rather because we take time to look at our plants while we do so - therefore picking up on any diseases or problems the plant may have early.

[Azvanna]

Re: I fail at plants...

I was given a beautiful Oregano plant. I mean it was healthy. Now I'm just cultivating dry herbs. >.<

[Jembru]

Re: I fail at plants...

I really don't know what I do wrong. I watered my herbs every day and let them dry out once a week before watering them again the next morning. They picked up after I first got them and ended up living a few months but finally began to wilt and die. I had guests comming over, so I decided to replace them with healthy plants from the supermarket. That was two weeks ago and the basil is already dead. The thyme is just about finished too.

I got a rose plant for Yule and most of that is dead now too. I try so hard but they just refuse to live for me

[Ula]

Re: I fail at plants...

I really don't know what I do wrong. I watered my herbs every day and let them dry out once a week before watering them again the next morning. They picked up after I first got them and ended up living a few months but finally began to wilt and die. I had guests comming over, so I decided to replace them with healthy plants from the supermarket. That was two weeks ago and the basil is already dead. The thyme is just about finished too.

I got a rose plant for Yule and most of that is dead now too. I try so hard but they just refuse to live for me

It sounds like a light issue. Can you change windows?

[Jembru]

Re: I fail at plants...

Never thought of that. I do have to turn them often because they lean towards to window, so maybe you're right. There is a south window I could try (the window they're on faces west), but I like them in the kitchen because I can access them more easily when I am cooking.

[iflewoverthecuckoosnest]

Re: I fail at plants...

Sorry if someone else already said this, but bulbs of almost any kind are pretty easy to grow, and this is coming from someone else who kills just about every green thing she touches. Just put 'em in some soil, keep watering them, and they grow to be healthy just about every time. Good luck