Using gardening as a therapy may heal a lot of illnesses, especially the 21st century struggle: stress and depression. I have an impressive story about me and gardening, but it’s not the time to relate it.
On the other hand, it’s time to show you some of my gardening secrets which I learned while I was practicing gardening as a healing therapy.
I can’t say that I have a favorite plant…I love all of them, but I developed a passion for air plants. It may be because I live in a studio apartment and I grow air plants to purify the indoor air. Anyhow, I’ve seen that the most common problem people have with air plants is due to incorrect watering. Keeping an airy plant well hydrated all year long will prolong its life and yours as well.
If the indoor air is too dry you have to water the plant more often (every 5 days will be enough), but if the indoor humidity is high you must double the watering period (once every 10 days).
How to water air plants:
- Fill a basin or the sink with water and dunk the air plants in it.
- Remove the plants after 10 minutes and spread them on a towel to dry a bit.
- Don’t use tap water for air plants, instead you can use rainwater or boiled and cooled water. Chlorine may turn leaves tips brown.
- Watering air plants must be done depending on the season:
– in summer they must be bathed once a week
– in winter you may water them once every three weeks
Important! For bulbous tillandsias you have to shorten the bath because they will absorb too much water which will lead to bulb rot.
