Growing with Carla
A Hobby Gardener/Plant Enthusiast Podcast. We'll talk about learning how to grow green leafy babies and share some cool stories! Let's go on an adventure! 🌱😊
Growing with Carla
Let's Start Your Plant Adventure!
Discover the lush landscape of indoor gardening where thriving greenery meets the warmth of home; it's all about growth, both for our plants and ourselves. I'll walk you through my personal plant chronicles. We celebrate victories and learn from the mishaps—like Mary's orchid oops and the miraculous effects of rainwater on a fiddle leaf fig. Plus, if you've ever wondered about the emotional uplift a plant collection can bring, or how to begin your own verdant journey, this episode plants the seeds of inspiration.
Get ready to leaf through a chapter dedicated to the budding plant enthusiast, especially tailored for our neurodivergent friends. We share our invaluable wisdom on the tools of the trade, from soil moisture meters to that perfect potting mix, ensuring your green haven flourishes. We'll unearth essential care tips and the simple joys of plants that thrive with minimal fuss. Whether you're interested in new grow lights or seeking advice for tender hands, this episode is your companion in cultivating a personal oasis amid the concrete jungle.
My new Anthurium Fingers "Samantha": https://greg.app/Carla/plants/702384a8/
YouTube video where I learned about recycling old window blinds as plant markers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG0tNSj5B_4
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/GrowingWithCarla
Full transcripts available on my website!
Welcome back to the garden friends. So I had recorded this earlier with my best friend, Sami, and it took a lot of editing to make it enjoyable to listen to, so we're just gonna re-record this. It's currently 11 30 at night, let's go. So let's start with a plant update. So this last weekend was Mother's Day and we went to Selden Market in Norfolk, virginia. They had an event called Mothers and Monsteras, so a bunch of local plant hobbyists and sellers were there and they had a lot of really good food too. It smelled so good. And while there I actually picked up another plant. Colloquially it is called Fingers. It kind of looks like the monster with the big tall stem and then the big leaves, but this one has lots of lobes off the one leaf. It's really cool. I will put a link in the show notes to its profile on my collection on Grey Gap.
Carla:When I got the fingers plant it didn't look terribly happy and sometimes plants have attitudes. The rest of the plants at this nice lady's table were wonderful and looked like they were thriving. So it was just a one-off and I'm pretty sure I was having an attitude. She did mention that it probably had an issue with moisture. So one of the things that I've been doing the past couple of days while I've been sitting at home is just kind of letting it absorb the water out of the soil and acclimate to my house so that when I do go to repot it it should hopefully not have as much shock. And then I do need to clip off all the dead parts of the leaves, but thankfully there's not a whole lot. The rest of the plant is very healthy and I haven't seen any more negative progress on those leaves since, so I think it's going to be good.
Carla:My Monstera at home the two new leaves have completely unfurled. They're a very pretty light green right now and as they mature more they'll get thicker and darker. I'm so excited. One of them does have the iconic Monstera look. The other one is kind of solid, but I'm super excited about it anyways. The mini Monstera its new leaves have also unfurled and they look gorgeous. I'm so excited about that plant. My goal is to, when it gets long enough, actually having it trail across the house with a string of grow lights. That would be so cool, or at least a part of a room, maybe just a wall. Let's start with a wall. What else? The African violets are super happy. They love the northeastern facing window, getting all that morning sunlight, and those pink flowers have faded even a little bit. It's wonderful, and the new purple one is just doing amazing as well. I also have a string of hearts, so I haven't always been the luckiest with string of hearts.
Carla:This is probably my third attempt on that particular succulent and so the first ones I got really small and it wasn't taking care of it properly. So these really small plants didn't have the right environment to thrive. So I was like F it, we're just going to get the big one, and having the much bigger established plant being able to take care of I was like F it we're just going to get the big one, and having the much bigger established plant being able to take care of it was much more successful for me. So sometimes if your plant's too small, you just can't give it what it needs. So let it get a little bit bigger from your local nursery and then try with that. I know they cost more, but sometimes it's really just worth it, because I could continue to spend money on the small ones hoping it'll grow to this size, or I could just do the bigger fee up front and be happy with the happier plant.
Carla:Some of my friend's plants updates. Our friend Mary. She had an orchid who the flowers had fallen off, as they do, and was trying to hibernate it to get it back up, but there was a problem with where she was storing it and the roots and the soil and stuff got moldy so ultimately she had to throw it away. So that was the lessons learned. But her fiddle leaf she started watering it with rainwater and instantly three brand new leaves. That is the coolest thing ever. And our friend Sammy's, pamela she's got the longest little roots. I was over at her house earlier today actually helping with um, her podcasting software, and I got a chance to look at Pamela and she is so freaking happy she's got all that wonderful morning sunshine and she's just looking super dapper.
Carla:So I wanted to talk to you guys today about starting your own plant collection and there's a couple questions to ask yourself before you really get into the nitty gritty of it. First, why do you want a plant collection, like? What's really motivating you to do this? So I've read in a couple online communities that some people do it because they're lonely or that they need something to put focus on that's outside themselves. So a college student in their dorm room they have room for a plant or two. Um, it could give them a healthy distraction, like, hey, I need to take care of the plant. Oh well, while I'm at that, I can also go and take care of myself maybe. I know I wasn't like that in college.
Carla:Um, but my reason for starting my plant collection was because I grew up in the country, so we were always surrounded by our garden. My mom had lots of plants in the house. I was always fascinated going around the neighborhood and around my dad's farm and looking at all the plants, like we found a. It was either an elder elderberry bush or a boysenberry bush, and we never did eat it because we were always scared, but it looked cool. So, especially being around those areas in the woods, being able to identify like poison ivy and poison oak, that was very important, so. But I've always been around plants and so when I wanted to kind of spruce up the house and make it a little bit more alive, without adding like live animals, I just got plants. And so my son jokes at me Mom, no more plants? And I'm like but one more won't hurt. He's like no, and I'm like I'm going to get one anyways. So that's how I got started on my plant collection. So let me know in the comments how you got started, if you already gotten started or why you want to get started. I would love to hear that.
Carla:The second question is how much space do you have available to work with for your plants? If you're that college student in the dorm you might have a window. I would hope you would have at least a window. But if you only have a small space, then you're going to be limited in what you're going to be able to keep alive. If you have a much larger space or much larger windows, then you could take advantage of vertical space so you could have hanging containers in front of your windows or like shelves with grow lights that you can put around your house so you can have multiple plants in a location. That kind of leads into the next question is what's your budget? Like, the college student probably shouldn't have a whole ton of plants because one they're not going to have a lot of time time budget, but they also might not have a lot of financial budget with which to buy plants. So definitely start out small in the beginning. You don't have to get all the super fancy stuff. You can literally start with a jar of water and a water loving plant. Like pothos are very easy to propagate in water. And then the last question is do I need to create a system in my life to be able to maintain these plants?
Carla:The best tip I can give, especially for myself or anyone else who's neurodivergent, is to make your plants convenient and make your plant tools convenient. What I mean by that is every day, when I'm walking through the house, I'm looking at my plants. They're in a very easy to see, always in my eye path as I walk around the house Like, oh, I'm going into the kitchen, oh, there's Edward by Monstera. Or I'm going into my craft room, look, there's Trefor, my Pothos, or there's Vivian, the Christmas cactus, and so I'm looking at them every day. And then your tools should also be convenient, because sometimes, like I know that Trefor needs a drink of water right now, but the tools are all the way on the other side of the house or, worse, in the garage and have to fill up the jug and then have to bring it back over here.
Carla:Sometimes, when you don't have a lot of energy, that can be the last straw. So in that case what I do is I leave my small watering can next to the sink and I keep it filled with water, because some water sources have extra chemicals put in by the city for either like fluoride for helping with dental health, or chlorine for keeping the water clean, and plants don't really like those extra chemicals. So I will actually fill my jug prior and leave it sitting on the counter so that those items in the water can evaporate, and then I'll use that staler water to water the plants with. And then, by having the water ready, I'm more likely to go and water my plants as well. And then when I'm watering one plant, it's like, okay, let me do this next one. It's right next to it, okay, and I'll do this other one over here too, because it's on the way back to the sink to drop off the watering can. So definitely set up systems for your habits and your routines around the house or wherever you keep your plants that allow you to take care of them in a convenient way, so that you're more likely to help them survive.
Carla:The next tip that I have for this that kind of goes in with the first one, is make sure that you research your plants that you're going to get before you get them, if at all possible. I know sometimes we're given plants and it could be a last minute thing. If that's the case, do this right as soon as you get it home. Don't transplant it right away. Don't do anything else.
Carla:Research the requirements of that plant, so what I mean. Look up its light requirements. Does it need direct sunlight or indirect sunlight? Does it need lots of sunlight or does it do okay in low light? How often does it need to be watered? Does it need any kind of extra plant food or nutrients added to its watering or to its soil? Does it require a special kind of watering? So, like if you're getting an orchid, you soak the roots instead of just pouring water on top of the soil and then to tie in with that? The next biggest tip that I can give to help answer all these questions is by keeping a plant journal. Write in your journal why you want to do this, how you want to set it up, all the beginning planning things, and record the plans that you have. Record things that you learn about your plans. Keep all this information in your handy dandy notebook or whatever you'd like to use for journaling or your diary, whatever you use to keep track of your stuff.
Carla:The bare necessities that you need for starting your plant collection is, first off, a plant. We'll go into what kinds of plants are more beginner-friendly in another future episode, because that's a whole topic by itself. But say you're just giving a pothos cutting, we'll go with that. For our examples. Say you're just giving a pothos cutting and the go with that. For our examples. Say you're just given a pothos cutting and the most simplest way you can keep it alive, the only things you need are a jar and water and then you just change out the water weekly.
Carla:The next level up from that is if you want it to be in a traditional pot with soil, you don't even need any other tools. You just use your hands to dig into the soil, put in the cuttings or the roots and then recover it and water from the top. So everything hereafter is extra. It's not required, not necessary, and it all depends on your budget and what you want to work with. All of these things are optional. So the biggest suggestion I can give for your plant collection is find what works for you, and if it works for you, great. If it doesn't work for you, then don't use it. If someone else recommends something, listen, think about it, but ultimately it's your decision. You don't have to follow anyone else's suggestions for taking care of your plants. Now, some people are going to have better suggestions, so like, if you implement them, your plants will might be happier. But ultimately these are your plants and you take care of them however you want.
Carla:The first thing extra that I really enjoy is a soil moisture meter. They're really inexpensive. I love that. They don't require batteries and they do a great job of if you have deep pots with deep roots from your plants, being able to tell how dry the soil is and whether or not that plant needs a drink of water. So Edward, my Monstera, he's in a pretty deep pot because he's a pretty big plant. So before I set up that terracotta stake with auto watering, I would stick the moisture meter in there, read it to see how dry or how wet the soil was and then water accordingly. The Gapo is super wet. Obviously I wouldn't be watering him, but if he was pretty dry then definitely I would definitely be giving him a drink To go in with that.
Carla:They make multi-meter measuring meters of this, so like I have one that's just a moisture meter and I have another one that's moisture, ph and light. So if you are having problems with the acidity or basicness of your soil, you can do a pH test where you take a little bit of the soil, turn it into a mud and then you would use that meter. Or there are water pH meters, so like I know that where I live currently the water is naturally more basic than neutral, so I have to use pH down in my watering jugs before I water the plants, otherwise it causes the tips of each leaf to like kind of yellow and burn from like a chemical burn. And then the last one is a light meter. So if you want to get the happiest spot for your plant, you would look into detail exactly what kind of light levels that plant is particularly looking for, or by experimenting with your plant where it's currently sitting. The light level there and how it does in a different spot with a different light level determines whether or not your plant needs more or less light. A light meter is a great way to kind of find the really nice areas in your home and then place your plants accordingly.
Carla:Another extra is store-bought potting soil. Obviously you can do the soil in your backyard or front yard or anywhere that you find soil that's legal to take. But sometimes when you get soil from unknown sources, then sometimes there's weird fungus that could be pests. So if you know the state of your yard and where you're taking soil from, it could be OK. If you're not willing to risk it, then go ahead and just get a bag of potting soil from the store. Now there's generic potting soil, there's add-ins and mixtures and then specialty potting soil. It's all going to depend which one you get, based on the type of plant that you're going to be putting in it. So this again goes back to researching your plants, seeing what kind of soil it likes. Like your succulents and cacti are going to prefer succulent and cacti mix. Orchids have their own mix, which is normally just a lot of tree bark, and then they make specialty for African violets, and then you just have your garden potting soil, indoor flower potting soil, etc.
Carla:Now if you are digging into larger pots, the next thing you might need could be a trowel. Trowels are handy little tools that allow you to play in the dirt, but they're also a great way to help replant your plants by helping hold dirt to the side, if you need to, in a pot so that you can set your plant in there and then release the soil from the trowel and just kind of push it down in there To go with that. If you are transplanting a lot and you want to do them inside that, you can get a soil tray. Now they come in two different varieties that I'm aware of. You have your solid soil trays. These can also be used as a permanent tray, like on a shelf, and you can have a pot sit in the tray and then you would water the tray and the pot was so good from the holes in the bottom for the plant to drink. Or you can get collapsible trays where they have buttons on the corners that you snap together and then you kind of have a flexible soil tray where you can do your transplanting and stuff. And then I like these because especially for transplanting, because then any soil that's left over I can pick all the roots out of and then add to my pile of soil that needs to be revitalized to use again for later. Another one that people really like is having plant tags with their various plants, so you can either keep the one that originally came with the plant, if it did have one, or you can make your own plant tag, whether it's a popsicle stick or I was watching a YouTube video the other day and they were reusing old window blinds the plastic slat ones and they just cut them to size and it was perfect for making plastic tags out of. If you have anything that can make custom stickers, though, too, you can make custom stickers to put on the outside of the pot as well, like I had one for um trefor and then cypha, my aloe vera.
Carla:Another extra that you might want to consider is, if you have a lot of indoor plants, um, but not a lot of good spaces for them to grow in, you could invest in some grow lights. Now. They come in all variety, all size and shape. Right now I have two skinny long ones that go in my little indoor greenhouse where I'm doing propagations. They provide a little bit of heat. They're LEDs, so it's not really costly and they don't produce a lot of heat, but they produce white light, for so it's the entire spectrum. Now you can get grow lights with specific colors, but for the general plant hobbyist, general white grow lights are going to be perfectly fine. The plants are still going to get all the things that they need. It's just not specifically red or green or blue or purple. So for those just starting out, a plain white light is fine. For grow lights it does have to be specifically a grow light, though. Not any light will just produce what is needed.
Carla:Another extra that for people who don't like to get dirt under their nails or don't like super dirty hands is a pair of gardening gloves. I know that if I just had my nails done recently, I really like my gardening gloves. It helps the paint from chipping and sometimes I just don't want to clean dirt out from under my fingernails. Now, if I'm outside in the garden, that's a different story. I am out there to work. I understand that I'm gonna get dirty hands and that's part of the fun. So that's a different story. I am out there to work. I understand that I'm gonna get dirty hands and that's part of the fun. So it's all just personal preference, depending on what you're doing currently and whether or not you want to carve up your hands. Now, if you are outside, I do recommend getting some kind of breathable long sleeve, even in the summertime, because I don't know about you, but I sunburn really easily. So even just spending a couple hours out in the garden, I will sunburn pretty bad, so please wear your sun protection if you're doing plant stuff outside.
Carla:And the last bit of extras that I want to talk about is anything that you would love to have to journal with. So I also use a photo sticker maker, so I'll take pictures of my plants from when I first got them to how they're progressing and stick them into my journal and then write little blurbs about them. It's a lot of fun and I can look back at the progress of look how tiny they were as a seedling and now I have this huge bush of tomatoes and they're delicious. Or look at these, these new leaves coming off my mini monstera, finally, and how wonderful that looks now when it's hopefully eight feet long. So I hope this gets you started on starting your own plant collection.
Carla:Definitely take the time to research what you would like, what's available to you. I always recommend buying local if possible. I know sometimes the things we want are more rare and not always easily accessible. In that case, just make sure that they're not considered an invasive species to the area that you live at and that's going to be another topic that I want to talk about is buying local and avoiding invasive species. But whatever you do and I cannot express this enough do not collect your plants illegally. And what I mean by that is if you go to a store that has lots of wonderful plants, regardless if they're for sale or not, like the tattoo parlor that I go to, they have so many wonderful plants in their front lobby and I love going there and looking at all the green stuff.
Carla:While I'm waiting for my session, I wouldn't want anyone to take cuttings of their plants without asking, so it's important to have permission, but it's more important to be safe about what you're doing, because if you don't have the proper tools or equipment, you could be doing more damage to that main plant than you realize. Like some plants are okay if you just pull off a leaf, like when the leaves are dying on my pothos, they just pop off because that's their natural separation point. But like I could never do that with a monstera because of the way that it's connected, and ripping a leaf off is going to do a lot of trauma to the plant and we don't want that because it could stunt growth, it could introduce diseases or allow openings for pests to come in and hurt the plant. It's just overall not really nice, and I have a lot of plants in my home. If I found out that there were pieces missing and damaged to my plants because someone just wanted a cutting and was too afraid to ask me, I would be way more upset and unwilling to let people come and enjoy my plants with me. So please be kind, don't take your plant cuttings illegally. Ask for permission and if they say no, respect that and find your plant elsewhere.
Carla:So off my soapbox. Please let me know how your guys' plant collections are going so far. What do you have so far? What do they look like? How do you keep track of your progress? What kind of tools do you find most useful? What are some of your go-to tips and tricks for taking care of your plants? And definitely, share their names. I love hearing the names that people assign to their plants. So all right, everyone. Thank you again for spending your day with me. I really appreciate it. Hit me up on Instagram, send me an email. All the info's in my link tree below. So below show notes. All my info's in the show notes. So hit me up. Let me know how your plant babies are going. All right, I'll talk to you later. Be safe, make wise choices and don't take your plants illegally.
