Growing plants can be a blessing or a curse, it can be beautiful or lacking in beauty, it can be relaxing or stressful.... You've probably walked into a tidy nursery, and it's a beautiful experience. But I have also entered homes where they try to grow any kind of plants without any criteria and I have the feeling that at any moment one of those plants will take me by surprise, extend one of its branches and devour me whole. It is claustrophobically unsightly.
Of course, if we are inclined to minimalism, we will be drawn to keeping our crops and gardens simple. What ideas have I practised in this regard? Please join me.
Little variety. I have nothing against having a varied garden. I am against having a messy garden. Not everyone has the gift of creating beautiful landscapes with few elements. And if that's the case, it's even more difficult to do it well with a lot of elements! I think that for that you have to have good taste and knowledge about plants. It would be catastrophic to put together plants that, for example, need different kinds of watering or soil. Such an arrangement would not last very long. Plants should complement each other or have harmony even in their form and needs. As I don't have that knowledge, I don't want to complicate myself with difficult cultivations that take up valuable time. So I keep the areas with little variety of plants.
Clean ground. Recently we changed the place where we live, and those spaces include a garage area where there is soil in the middle, so that it is under the vehicles. There, the person left some flowering plants. I don't like them, and I would prefer that there were no plants there at all, but my wife likes them, so I decided to leave them there for a while. But every time I have to clean them I tear up everything around them. I use a weeder and scrape the soil to pull out the weeds, whatever is there. That way the plant is left alone, with soil all around it. Could it be any better, of course! Some sort of simple landscaping or arrangement would look great, but the point is that, for now, I don't want to spend any more time than necessary caring for plants. My plan is to ask for some free pieces of grass and transplant them in that spot, and that way the only thing that will be there is grass, where I only have to prune the edges that get close to the cement part.
Growing cacti. Cacti are easier to care for and multiply than other plants, and that's why I think it's a good way to start with this. You can leave the house for several days without worrying about them. Just put them in a strategic place in the house and don't worry about them. They are quite resistant and can withstand periods without watering. Also, I think they are very pretty. Maybe you do some research on the internet about the different varieties that exist and you prefer a particular one. In my case, I haven't found the one I really want, but with the two types I currently have I'm happy, and it's a good way to get started in this world.
Sometimes I have been taken by surprise when they multiply, so I have had to look for a place to put the new plants. My criterion has been that I don't want to simply improvise pots with pots of margarine or some other product, because when I give them away (because I have to give them away, I can't keep them all) I want them to look good, beautiful, aesthetic, so that it can be seen that I have been growing and multiplying them thinking of someone else. So I only transplant them when I have the final container ready for that. I have them in a specific place and by the way I'm seeing that it's time to get rid of some of them.
This work has reminded me of the importance of some qualities like patience and perseverance, because plants can't grow just like that, at least the ones we want to have under our hand. So I am happy with what I have and have achieved so far. I want to continue to improve my care and I document myself on YouTube. Keep it simple, practical and functional.... ...minimalist.
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FUENTES / SOURCES
Cover: Made with the free version of CANVAS
Images: Shot with my Canon EOS Rebel t3i camera / Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 phone and edited with GIMP
GIF: I used images captured with my Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 phone and transformed for free in ezgif.com
Banner: Made by me in GIMP with my own images and free resources from the site pfpmaker.com
Language: Post written in Spanish and then translated into English through DeepL