Beginner question

[cesy]

I would like to learn more about gardening. However, at the moment I lack a garden. I have tried keeping house-plants, but I have a regrettable tendency to kill them. Does anyone have any particular advice on types that are easy to keep? I tend to forget to water things unless it's a very fixed "it needs 100ml once a week" so I can put a recurring reminder in Outlook.

Comments

[sara]

You might look for the kind with the trailing bits and the heart-shaped leaves (and sadly, I don't know the species or common name.) You might also like a fancy English ivy, Hedera helix, which is notoriously hard to kill. They have some pretty ones with mottled leaves. Oh, and asparagus ferns (not really a fern) are hard to kill.

[cyprinella]

I have managed to kill ivy but then, I also didn't ever manage to keep basil alive until last year. Oddly, carnivorous plants are a breeze.

My unkillables are spiderplants and chives.

[sara]

*laughing* If you can kill ivy, I could use you in my back yard!

[cyprinella]

It may have been the Miracle Gro that did it. (I was a n00b, I Miracle Gro-ed everything.)

[sasha_davidovna]

I second the English ivy recommendation. Mine survived several near death experiences over the years - coming back after a thorough watering even when every single leaf was dead.

Spider plants are also pretty tough, and supposedly one of the best plants for purifying the air.

[katemonkey]

I love cactus and succulents. You can forget to water them for ages, and they still grow like mad creatures.

Try aloe vera. Keep it somewhere warmish, water it whenever the dirt's looking really dry, and every once in awhile, you can have lovely aloe vera gel from one of the stalks!

[fatoudust.livejournal.com]

The other option you can look at is to get some nice self-watering containers. They have a reservoir with a goodly amount of water there and a handy indicator for when they're getting low. You typically only have to water about once a week or so, and you won't over or under water because the plants will wick up what they need.