Lessons the Hard Way

So two initial lessons I’ve learned from having houseplants here in the UK:

1. Do not let your plants overcrowd
2. Do not underestimate how tricky it can be to keep even just houseplants pest free

I’ve had houseplants before – kept them for years in Canada with absolutely no issues whatsoever. Here, however, I’m finding it harder, not to keep the plants alive, but to keep everything else from nibbling on them! I definitely think there are many more thriving insects here in the UK, but hey, I’ve now been warned.

By having one of those six-in-one lot herb gardens, and by planting pretty thick bundles of already-grown plants in each one, what I had was a recipe for disaster.

And disaster’s exactly what took place.

Plagued for months by the most annoying little gnats on the face of the planet, as well as white flies and aphids (which were considerably less annoying), I gave up on that six-in-one herb garden and just kept the one terracotta pot that housed oregano and a pepper plant (there were chives there, too, but I let them die off since they were overcrowding), as well as a large jug that contained a single pepper plant (different hot peppers than the first – yes, we like hot peppers in this family).

I also tried my hand at keeping some ivy, but the location I wanted it in was very particular (I have a cat – can’t just put it anywhere), and while I didn’t think it would get enough sun, I figured – heck with it; I’ll try and if it doesn’t survive there I’ll just live without ivy as well. The ivy lasted the summer, but once the days started getting much shorter, it was very upset with its placement, let half of itself die off, and so I chucked it and gave up.

Of course that means I’m down to very few houseplants, and not much to write about on this blog. But considering I do want to revisit this whole gardening thing once I have a full-fledged garden, I may stop by with a post on this blog here and there, just for the heck of it.

Can’t wait to have a nice little bungalow with a beautiful backyard to toil away in.