Take me from zero to horticulturalist!
June 23, 2023 8:13 AM Subscribe
The situation: I have an indoor porch, very well exposed to the sun, and I want to fill it with plants without breaking the bank. I know NOTHING about how to spend money on this, how to take care of plants, or what I should be looking for. I'd rather DIY as much as possible than buy already growing plants. What do I need to know, and where can I look for more information? I cannot emphasize how little I know on this topic!
See if your area has a Facebook group. I'm on two indoor ones City plant buy and sell and City Plant Zone and one more outdoors- City Gardeners.
There's almost always plants babies up for grabs. And larger plants for sale.
And there are a ton of TikTok house gardeners out there!
posted by Ftsqg at 8:38 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
There's almost always plants babies up for grabs. And larger plants for sale.
And there are a ton of TikTok house gardeners out there!
posted by Ftsqg at 8:38 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Is your indoor porch heated and would be considered a “4 season” room? You location might help us to better suggest what to grow. How many hours of sunlight does it get a day?
Generally, for “DIY-ing” houseplants I would look for either a small plant at a nursery or hardware store or get clippings from friends. If you were in my city I’d be happy to give you cuttings which you could then put in water, which would grow weeks over the course of ~3 weeks, after which you could plant in dirt. Once you have one plant you can always divide it, make clippings, and grow more plants — that the best way to get a lot of plants without buying tons of expensive fully grown plants, if you’re willing to grow your volume of plants over time. Growing these plants from seed is a much longer process. If you’re looking for flowers or vegetables then seed is a much more reasonable task.
Your climate and sun will dictate the best type of plants. For example, if you live somewhere hot with harsh light I would tell you to stick to succulents (cactus, etc.). If you’re in a place with a lot of humidity then ferns would work well. That’s not to say that you can’t grow almost anything anywhere with the right care, but as a beginner you don’t want to make it too hard.
posted by Bunglegirl at 8:40 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Generally, for “DIY-ing” houseplants I would look for either a small plant at a nursery or hardware store or get clippings from friends. If you were in my city I’d be happy to give you cuttings which you could then put in water, which would grow weeks over the course of ~3 weeks, after which you could plant in dirt. Once you have one plant you can always divide it, make clippings, and grow more plants — that the best way to get a lot of plants without buying tons of expensive fully grown plants, if you’re willing to grow your volume of plants over time. Growing these plants from seed is a much longer process. If you’re looking for flowers or vegetables then seed is a much more reasonable task.
Your climate and sun will dictate the best type of plants. For example, if you live somewhere hot with harsh light I would tell you to stick to succulents (cactus, etc.). If you’re in a place with a lot of humidity then ferns would work well. That’s not to say that you can’t grow almost anything anywhere with the right care, but as a beginner you don’t want to make it too hard.
posted by Bunglegirl at 8:40 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Buy a sweet potato. Google the rest. :)
Also: if you get enough sun: buy a ginger root. Plant that too !
Also: People list plants in the "free" section on Craigslist (including me - if you're near me, I have some now!)
posted by amtho at 9:11 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also: if you get enough sun: buy a ginger root. Plant that too !
Also: People list plants in the "free" section on Craigslist (including me - if you're near me, I have some now!)
posted by amtho at 9:11 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
One very, VERY big thing to figure out first his how much light you get - and where the light is coming FROM. In fact, where the light is coming from is an even bigger concern. And I don't just mean "the light is coming from the sun, duh!" I mean - whether your window faces north, south, east, or west; those all may get light, but it's very different KINDS of light. And those all can have an impact on what kind of plants will do well where you are.
Case in point - I have a pair of bedroom windows that is very well exposed to the sun as well. But - they are north-facing windows. So plants that are supposed to do well in "bright direct sunlight" actually will not do well in there. Light gets in, but it's filtered just by virtue of the windows facing away from where the sun is in the sky.
And - in my last apartment I had big east-facing windows, and big west-facing windows. I put plants that needed full sun in there....and they did okay, but they still got kinda spindly. That's because they were only getting direct sunlight for half the day - and the "full sun" plants needed sun for a full day. If I'd had those plants in a southern facing window, that would have worked fine.
So I'd start there - figure out what direction your windows are facing (north, south, east or west) and then see what plants do well in those specific zones. I'd even add the words "easy care" to your search. Fortunately you can find a whole lot of plants to suit - some of the plants for northern-facing windows are plants that originated in rain forests, so they prefer more filtered and shady light. And there's a ton of desert-type plants that like the full sun, while some plants prefer filtered light in the morning but full in the afternoon, or vice-versa, making them suited for an eastern or western window. My point is, whatever light conditions you've got in that room, there's a plant that evolved to fill that niche; you just have to identify what kind of niche you've got at a given point in your room. And the north/south/east/west search is a great way to start.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:42 AM on June 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
Case in point - I have a pair of bedroom windows that is very well exposed to the sun as well. But - they are north-facing windows. So plants that are supposed to do well in "bright direct sunlight" actually will not do well in there. Light gets in, but it's filtered just by virtue of the windows facing away from where the sun is in the sky.
And - in my last apartment I had big east-facing windows, and big west-facing windows. I put plants that needed full sun in there....and they did okay, but they still got kinda spindly. That's because they were only getting direct sunlight for half the day - and the "full sun" plants needed sun for a full day. If I'd had those plants in a southern facing window, that would have worked fine.
So I'd start there - figure out what direction your windows are facing (north, south, east or west) and then see what plants do well in those specific zones. I'd even add the words "easy care" to your search. Fortunately you can find a whole lot of plants to suit - some of the plants for northern-facing windows are plants that originated in rain forests, so they prefer more filtered and shady light. And there's a ton of desert-type plants that like the full sun, while some plants prefer filtered light in the morning but full in the afternoon, or vice-versa, making them suited for an eastern or western window. My point is, whatever light conditions you've got in that room, there's a plant that evolved to fill that niche; you just have to identify what kind of niche you've got at a given point in your room. And the north/south/east/west search is a great way to start.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:42 AM on June 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
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posted by greta simone at 8:20 AM on June 23, 2023