It’s that time of the year that all gardening enthusiasts wait for, the season to brighten their homes & balconies with winter blooms.
We truly love a beautiful home garden and we draw inspiration from 5 Gardens & Gardeners across the country who share their Top 5 tips to start and maintain a winter garden.
We also have 5 best flowers, fruits & veggies you can grow this season and finally 5 reasons why you need plants in 2020!
Let’s get right in!
5 Home Gardens & Gardeners We Loved
Our floral enthusiast, Shweta, has one of the most vibrant, colourful and blooming winter terrace gardens we came across! She prides in her roses, marigolds and dahlias. She is a gardener with a sense of humour.
Her winter bloom pro tips are:
- Plant food is essential for flowers in winter
- Grafting and pruning are important for full blooms
- When all fails, bring an experienced Mali to help you!
A true plant mom, Shobha, shared some thoughts on plants, “I am a plant mother, some days I pamper them a lot. But I will never deny their love. My son complains I spend too much of my time and love for them.“
Shobha has mastered the art of growing orchids in Chennai. Her orchid pro tips are:
- Orchids need plenty of food and sunlight
- Starch water is the best form of feeding them
- Water needs to drain completely unlike other plants
Our Marigold Lovers, Madhu & Ashok, have a terrace garden overlooking the Brahmaputra river. They create a serene cozy vibe in their home garden and are adventurous gardeners who often travel into forests for a tête-à-tête with nature.
Marigolds are their specialty and their pro tips are:
- They grow easily from seedling to plants quickly
- Direct sunlight works well for them
- For bushy growth, pinch the top of the young plants when they have at least four sets of leaves
Our veggie grower, Mihir Agarwal, from the hills of Gangtok grows all fruits and vegetables you can image. From strawberries, to mint, coriander and vegetables like cauliflowers, radishes and beans, he's organically growing all of them with zero chemical fertilisers.
He shared some pro tips on growing beans:
- For cabbages and cauliflowers, propagate seedlings up to 3-4 inches for 20-25 days and transplant 4 per big pot
- One veggie per plant comes in about 2 months
- Use natural cow dung manure for organic produce
Our master Bonsai artist, Rajashree Bajaj, has immersed herself in Japanese horticulture. She prides in her collection of Bonsai plants and has been doing Ikebana for the last 12 years.
Her pro tips for Bonsai include:
- Pruning is a must to maintain the size of the miniature trees or Bonsai
- Bonsai's need to be fed every 7 days in rotation
- Don't underwater Bonsais as they are in shallow pots where soil dries fast
Hope you are inspired by these amazing home gardeners! Nestasia's grateful to all the lovely gardeners for sharing their plant stories and wisdom with us!
If you've never had a home garden and all these pro tips seem daunting, fret not! With some basics in place, you'll be all set to start your own little garden!
5 Gardening Tips for Beginners
- Light: Understand your space and the amount of light it gets. Get plants accordingly, for direct, indirect sunlight or indoor spaces.
- Soil & Planter: Having quality potting mix is essential which is easily available at nurseries. Plant smaller plants in small planters and vice versa.
- Water: Understand the frequency of watering and drainage that your plant will thrive in. Thumb rule is soil need to be dry to touch before you water.
- Weeding & Pruning: Plants don't like dead leaves on their base or dried leaves hanging on the stem. Weed out any dried or dying leaves.
- Love, care & nurturing: The difference between having a green thumb or not is the love you treat your plants with. Select easy care plants and truly understand them. Read some of these telltale signs like: Wilting leaves - Your plant is thirsty, Browning ends- thirsty again! Yellowing leaves- too much or too little sunlight, Slow growth- Needs plant food!
5 Easy Maintenance Flower & Plants to Grow In Winter
Flowers may seem daunting to grow and take care, but consider these 5 easy growing varieties for your garden:
- Marigold (a natural insecticide)
- Petunia (grafting gives you dual colours)
- Rose (sweet smelling scent in your garden)
- Dahlia (can grow to be 1 feet in diameter) &
- Chrysanthemum (2nd most popular flower after rose with over 40 varieties)
Five Easy to Grow Herbs, Fruits & Vegetables
- Coriander: Propagation can be done in many ways by soaking, or pounding (to lightly break open) the dry coriander seeds, easily available at home.
- Mint: Very easy to grow and minimal maintenance, mint needs regular watering and grows large leaves over time with good sunlight.
- Radish & Carrots: Nothing can beat fresh radish from your garden. Radishes can be ready to harvest between 30 to 50 days time.
- Cabbage & Cauliflower: Propagate seedlings up to 3-4 inches for 20-25 days. Re-pot to get a flower per plant in about 2 months.
- Beans: A lot of beans can be grown in limited space. Pole variety grows in long vines. Vertical support and sunlight is needed to have good produce.
So pick up those pots and seeds and plant away to glory!
Once you've got your plants, the next step is to doll up your space, whether it's your indoor plants, your balcony garden, your terrace garden or an outdoor expansive space you truly love.
If you’re at all familiar with our website, you know that we simply adore unique garden accessories and have added the Flora collection of garden accessories to spruce up the look of your garden!
Five Garden Décor & Accessories to Beautify your Home Garden
*Click on the image above or names of products to redirect you to the webpage
- Solar Garden Stake: A solar power lamp metal stake has a beautiful mellow light that can light up your balcony, garden or pathway in the backyard. Creates a great festive vibe and is an amazing gift for all plant lovers.
- Hanging Planter & Genius Hook: Hanging planters is a must-have addition to a balcony, garden or window. Along with it, we have adjustable hooks which can help you water them with ease!
- DIY Garden Stake: An activity to do together with family, brighten up weedy patches with these ceramic DIY stakes which you can colour in yourself!
- Watering Can Vase: A watering can that doubles up as a vase to display your flowers and winter blooms
- Plant Stand / Tables: Powder coated metal (rust & water proof) colourful plant stands to create a vibrant plant nook in your home.
We continue to add new plant accessory ranges to our website. If you have any special requests for plant accessories, do let us know in the comments below!
By now you know how much we love plants at Nestasia. If we still haven't managed to spark an interest, we want to finally share 5 reasons you need to have plants in your life in 2020!
5 Reasons you need plants in your life in 2020!
Please share your thoughts on everything you liked and loved about the blog. We will have another spring feature of our garden blog so send in your garden photos, hacks and how you accessorise it with us!
Happy New Year & Happy Growing!
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