Your plant skills are probably improving, but I want to make sure you understand the basics. You are here to learn how to get along peacefully with plants. No murder, no mayhem, but certainly some success every once in while, right?
We've covered water and dirt. If you experimented, you may have also learned about mud. The third thing all plants need is something we people also need (maybe it's our plant DNA acting up again), sunlight.
I promised you no scientific mumbo jumbo so you'll have to just believe it, plants love sunlight. Not all plants love the same amount of sunlight, but most all like it at least a little bit. Think of your relatives. I bet at least one could sit in the sun all day, while others like to hide under umbrellas and hats. Plants are very much the same.
So how do you know how much light a plant wants? This can be a bit tricky, since some plants that look like they might be great out in the hot sun actually prefer shade, and vice versa. And we don't want to be baking our plants, do we?
The first thing to check is the little tag that came on the plant, if you bought it at a nursery. What does it say? Bright light? Shade? Partial shade? Follow the suggestions the plant company offers, and don't try to second guess them. if you put something that likes shade in direct sun, it will roast.
No tag? What did we do with water? Right, we looked at the plant and experimented. We watched it carefully to see if we were over or underwatering. We can do the same with sunlight. Try putting the plant in a place that is part sun and part shade. How does it do? During the sunny times of day, does it looked thrilled? Does it perk up when the shady time occur? Pay attention, and then adjust the location of your plant until it seems most happy.
If you are having continued trouble, maybe you are trying to grow the wrong plant for your micro-environment. In this case, take a look at what else is growing successfully in your area, and try to get some of it going, whatever it turns out to be. (You have permission to ask people what plants are in their yards).
I've found that indoor plants like as much natrual light as they can possibly get, so by all means put them near windows. Watch out for heaters, though, and hot window sills. They can dry plants out much more quickly than usual, so you may need to water more.
If you have no windows and no outdoor area you may have great difficulty growing anything except fungus. You can, however, get some artificial lights. This is probably too much work, so I'd concentrate on finding a place that has windows first.
In summary, plants like light. Some like it a lot, some like it a little, and it is up to you to find out how much light your plant wants if you want to succeed in gardening.
Lesson 5: Experiment
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