Part 1: Choosing your plants
Do you fling an orchid into your basket at the supermarket checkout? Or spy a fern at the house plant shop and go weak at the knees because it's been on your wishlist for months? House plants are so beautiful and appealing that the occasional impulse buy is inevitable, but your success rate will be roughly equivalent to how much thought you put into your choices.
The key is getting to know what the conditions are like in your home, and finding the plants that can thrive there, from among the thousands of species from all over the world that can grow indoors.
Before you get anywhere close to splashing cash on new greenery, it's worth taking time to think about what you can offer plants - as well as what they can offer you. Start by considering how much spare time you have for caring for an indoor jungle. Don't believe the hype that 'you cannot have too many plants' - this is not true. I believe that every one of us has the right number of house plants, bearing in mind our expertise, the characteristics of our home and how much room we have. That number could be one, ten or 200.
Right conditions
Esta historia es de la edición December 2023 de BBC Gardeners World.
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Esta historia es de la edición December 2023 de BBC Gardeners World.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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A new plot for tasty crops
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We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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Now, at the height of summer, Frances Tophill shows how to boost your plants' health and productivity with a timely cut
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Flowers are out in abundance this month and for Jack Wallington, many of these blooms make delicious, low-effort pickings
Bite-sized bounties
Glorious doorstep harvests can easily turn into gluts, so let Rukmini Iyer's recipes help you savour every last bit
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Buildings and landscapes can play a vital role in supercharging your space, as Nick Bailey demonstrates
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Looking for sustainable, small-space gardening ideas? Take inspiration from Oliver Hymans' transformed balcony garden in north-east London - now a lush, green haven for humans and wildlife
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As we adapt our gardens to a more volatile climate, Alan Titchmarsh reveals how to create a drought-tolerant plot and picks his top plant performers
Nature knows best
Carol Klein explains how to choose plants for specific growing conditions, based on what has naturally adapted to thrive there
