The Student’s Garden

We’ve all been there, scrolling the boards of Pinterest or never ending Tik Tok carou­sel, looking at all the profes­sionally doctored pictures linked to Amazon store fronts. I can’t be the only one with a saved file of ‘bedroom inspo’. But wheth­er you are curating the perfect dorm room for freshers, com­plete with the illegal fairy lights; or trying to make your comput­er station look less like a cubi­cle from a 90’s TV show, there is one element which comes up everywhere. House-plants.

But do you dare? Perhaps you have never owned one before and don’t know where to start, maybe you’ve owned too many but the repeated deaths have left you feeling sore, or maybe you have such an aversion to any form of commitment that the idea of something being reli­ant on you for its survival makes you feel rather ill. Here we will be going through just how easy, rewarding and beneficial plant parenthood can be.

1. Perfectly pictured plants

The first step in growing your green thumb is first to stop try­ing to achieve the aesthetic rock of Sisyphus. Humans already have too many self esteem is­sues, don’t bring your plants into it. Your plants will not look like the showroom set dressing pictured online, they will be a bit wonky, some leaves will die, they may flower once and nev­er again, and that’s all okay. So many people seem ashamed of their house-plants if they don’t look quite like they did when they bought them when they shouldn’t. I have some pret­ty second hand looking plants, my devils ivy didn’t much enjoy our recent move and has been dropping leaves like nothing else. But I got this plant years ago, it survived falling off a fridge, two moves and I prop­agated it to give to my friends. I have needed to re-pot it, trim it and take cuttings but I’ll be damned if I will throw her away because she’s a bit bare at the moment.

2. Mental health

There has long been implicit understanding that being in na­ture and interacting with plants boosts mental health. We’ve all heard our parents helpfully sug­gest to ‘just go on a walk’ when we are feeling upset or stressed. However, did you know that there is scientific research to back this up. Studies on the au­tonomic nervous system found that it became suppressed after completing a simple re-potting of a plant, therefore reducing the participants’ stress levels on both a psychological and phys­iological level, compared to when they completed a comput­er task.

Now, filling your home with house-plants will not cure men­tal health conditions, however, setting up your space and home in a way which encourages a soothing effect on the mind has shown to help. This being said, much of the benefit of house plants comes from the inter­secting with them and while the idea of yet another chore may not seem ideal, these chores are shown to be more soothing than they are stressful. Think of it as a bit of guided mindfulness, tak­ing time out of your day to grow something and be present in the moment.

3. Leap of faith

The most common reason I hear people have not taken the leap into house planting is be­cause of the lack of experience or knowledge. Most people do not know where to start and it’s frustrating to buy a plant, some of which can be really expen­sive, for it to die in a week. It’s important to figure out the line between point one, the perfectly pic­tured plants paradox, where your plants can be perfectly healthy but they just don’t look like a magazine cover; or if there is something which is actively sabotaging your plants. The most com­mon saboteurs are:

a. Poor potting.

As anyone who has tried to buy a su­permarket herb knows, you can be the best gardener in the world, but if you don’t re-pot those plants and give them some space they will become so root bound then will die. Re-pot or inspect your roots and set yourself up for suc­cess.

b. Location location location.

Between your plants having too little or too much light or putting them in locations where you are just going to forget about them, be practical in your interior design. Location is the insidi­ous killer, meaning you may not notice your plants struggling at first, but once you do there is usually still time to save them. Make sure you know what plants thrive where, and put them in places you can reach easily and are in your line of sight so you don’t forget them.

c. Helicopter plant-parenting.

The final big killer is being too much for your plants. Too much water, too much pruning, too much handling. We’ve all been there, you forget to water your Peace Lily and, because they are fick­le things, they droop and so you water board it. Knowing when is enough for your plants takes experience, so for be­ginners I will always recommend start­ing with one of the more hardy plants to get an idea of what you like without shelling out too much money or having to make space for a plant cemetery.