Does Anyone Enjoy Watering Plants?

[puff_not_snuff]

Gardening is probably the single most soothing thing I do - living in the city I’m restricted to my balcony when growing outdoors, but that balcony is a jungle of tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and wildplants. I like to smoke out there right after watering - the smell of the wet earth and plants is so calming. It’s also much less work watering a dozen plants - in times when I’ve had a larger garden, watering has been a much less magical, more tedious responsibility.

I live in a city as well and have a communal space here where I keep a bunch of similar stuff. While I am not allowed to smoke in that area going down in the morning and evening to water and just check on their growth is often the most rewarding part of my day.

 

[anotherbob]

Mine has black thumbs. She's banned from anything in the garden.

I knew a guy with a black thumb, claimed it was from a hammer injury.
Also watering plants is great.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Absolutely I like watering my plants. It's a therapeutic thing for me. The plants make me happy and are good for everyone living in the house. I have a larger aquarium and we water the plants with the "dirty" water after changing, so it's really cool to me to see what would have been wate being used in such a beneficial way

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just weeded some flower beds. I enjoy watering. It gives me an opportunity to look for pests, and check on progress.
Here are some of my flowers that I let one of my daughters sell at the farmer’s market.

 

[Peter Turbo]

I must enjoy it considering I’m a gardener for a living.

 

[greysmoke]

Indoors, yes. I bought a 28 ounce Japanese made watering container for that purpose, seen in the picture below.



Outdoors, wouldn't think of it. We have a large garden that the rain seems to keep up with.

Just for grins, here's my false Aralia and Mother in Law's tongue along with my shell casing clock.

 

[autumnfog]

Absolutely.. I've got a bit of green thumb as they say. Couldn't kill a plant if I tried.

Green fingers would be something to have.
I'm happy if I can keep a cactus alive.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Green fingers would be something to have.
I'm happy if I can keep a cactus alive.

I always had good luck with houseplants. When I started doing flowers and produce outside I read a couple books to understand the importance of substrates and feeding.

I think some people want to be able to follow a rigid guideline for watering and care, but that's just not feasible. With experience you learn how to read the signs that plants show and understand which nutrients are beneficial at certain phases.

Then there are all sorts of advanced techniques...

 

[autumnfog]

I always had good luck with houseplants. When I started doing flowers and produce outside I read a couple books to understand the importance of substrates and feeding.

I think some people want to be able to follow a rigid guideline for watering and care, but that's just not feasible. With experience you learn how to read the signs that plants show and understand which nutrients are beneficial at certain phases.

Then there are all sorts of advanced techniques...

Yep, that's me. I want to know when to water and how much.
I should read up on cactus care.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Yep, that's me. I want to know when to water and how much.
I should read up on cactus care.

They let you know when they need water. =]

 

[autumnfog]

I guess. Then, some people are plant whisperers by nature.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I just weeded some flower beds. I enjoy watering. It gives me an opportunity to look for pests, and check on progress.
Here are some of my flowers that I let one of my daughters sell at the farmer’s market.
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Ugly!!!

 

[Jbrewer2002]

Indoors, yes. I bought a 28 ounce Japanese made watering container for that purpose, seen in the picture below.

View attachment 235362

Outdoors, wouldn't think of it. We have a large garden that the rain seems to keep up with.

Just for grins, here's my false Aralia and Mother in Law's tongue along with my shell casing clock.

View attachment 235363

Nice plants and nice shell!! We have a lot of indoor and outdoor plants. Outside there on an auto watering system. It takes a bit of maintenance in the fall and spring but makes the summer easy. I also have a 120mm shell in the mix

 

[crashthegrey]

Absolutely! During my 6 mile walks, if necessity arose, I’d drop the zipper and water the plants, usually at Disney and sometimes by the Burbank Studios.

I am glad that I am not the only one who read it this way.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I always had good luck with houseplants. When I started doing flowers and produce outside I read a couple books to understand the importance of substrates and feeding.

I think some people want to be able to follow a rigid guideline for watering and care, but that's just not feasible. With experience you learn how to read the signs that plants show and understand which nutrients are beneficial at certain phases.

Then there are all sorts of advanced techniques...

Care to share a bit more information on the subject? I believe with a lot of things, once you do a bit of reading and gain some experience, a sort of informed intuition takes over. Some things I do in the garden I haven't actually read but make sense to me and often seems to work out well for the plants but I also realize I have a lot to learn in a more formal way.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Care to share a bit more information on the subject? I believe with a lot of things, once you do a bit of reading and gain some experience, a sort of informed intuition takes over. Some things I do in the garden I haven't actually read but make sense to me and often seems to work out well for the plants but I also realize I have a lot to learn in a more formal way.

You're definitely right. Kind of like packing a pipe- after long enough you don't even have to think about it, you just do it.

Really a lot of care is species specific.
One area that has lead to overall improvement is care for the soil pre-planting. Being aware of what your plants will need and fortifying your substrate beforehand. I'm a big believer in a thorough tilling for aeration and mixing in a high quality top soil. I've always been a fan of Foxfarm soils and nutrients because they've been super consistent over the years and their nutes are organic (so there's little chance for over feeding). Also makes foliar feeding easier.

For indoor growing of smaller flowering and fruiting plants I swear by CalMag every third of fourth watering, just a light dose. Seems to make a difference.

Another trick I started using about 13 years ago -
I was always big in to tropical fish and keeping aquariums.
Ended up with a 50gal tank that wasn't being used so I filled it and ran my carbon filter. That's my water I use for indoor plants. Sensitive specifies can be susceptible to a buildup over time from heavy metals and the like from tap water, so I found that's a great way to have a steady source of filtered water.

 

[Egg Shen]

You're definitely right. Kind of like packing a pipe- after long enough you don't even have to think about it, you just do it.

Really a lot of care is species specific.
One area that has lead to overall improvement is care for the soil pre-planting. Being aware of what your plants will need and fortifying your substrate beforehand. I'm a big believer in a thorough tilling for aeration and mixing in a high quality top soil. I've always been a fan of Foxfarm soils and nutrients because they've been super consistent over the years and their nutes are organic (so there's little chance for over feeding). Also makes foliar feeding easier.

For indoor growing of smaller flowering and fruiting plants I swear by CalMag every third of fourth watering, just a light dose. Seems to make a difference.

Another trick I started using about 13 years ago -
I was always big in to tropical fish and keeping aquariums.
Ended up with a 50gal tank that wasn't being used so I filled it and ran my carbon filter. That's my water I use for indoor plants. Sensitive specifies can be susceptible to a buildup over time from heavy metals and the like from tap water, so I found that's a great way to have a steady source of filtered water.

what species have you found to be the most sensitive to the impurities in tap water? I grow vegetables and berries.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

We have zero houseplants but no issues watering the plants and garden outside, the yard is on a sprinkler system so a couple of planting beds are taken care of that way when it runs (and when it doesn't that means we are getting plenty of rain). Wife is home summers so she usually does what needs done in the mornings, but as mentioned the main benefit for me is seeing how things are growing and so forth. Got my garden in late this year so things just started happening within the last couple of weeks - a few cucumbers evident and some peppers and some immature tomatoes.

When I finally finish painting my garden shed, I'll add a couple of gutters to collect rainwater in a barrel, but that won't happen until fall, so a benefit next year.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

what species have you found to be the most sensitive to the impurities in tap water? I grow vegetables and berries.

We can never be 100% sure of the direct causation when observing discoloration, interruptions in growth, necrosis, etc. When a change is made and improvement is noted we can make some educated assumptions.

Before switching to the carbon filtered water I noted multiple issues that pointed to lacks of specific nutrients, even though I was supplementing them. That's when I started to think the issue was uptake of nutrients, not just the presence or absence of them.

Within a couple weeks of switching to the carbon filtered water I saw improvement and since then I've never had large scale issues again.

Indoors I've grown multiple cultivars of chili pepper, scallions, shallots, small tomatoes, radish, and strawberries.
Ornamental flowers here and there over the years..
Also cannabis.

All of the above have shown some level of improvement with the water change, none more than others I think. Always found the strawberries to be extra finicky though.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I prefer watching grass grow, paint dry, or watching concrete cure over any landscape chores.
Probably a side effect of working outdoors in the desert since 2000.
85-00 was spent bartending and ancillary healthcare, so I liked puttering in the yard back then.