It’s National Gardening Week and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is aiming to encourage more people to find the joy in gardening.
Gardening comes with many benefits. It can act as a form of stress relief, improve your mental health, and has been shown to reduce the risk of illnesses like Alzheimer’s and stroke.
But while gardening can be fun, it’s also hard work. House plants need constant care and it can be difficult to fit watering into a busy schedule, that’s if you even remember to do it in the first place.
The good news is that you no longer need to stress about coming home to withering plants.
We’ve got a hack for helping you to keep your plants looking luscious and green, even while you’re away from home.
The even better news is that there’s no need to splash out on expensive watering gadgets as the simple plastic greenhouse method is a cost-effective way to keep your plants hydrated.
The plastic bag greenhouse method
The plastic bag greenhouse method is a clever hack that can be used to keep your plants watered for six to eight months.
For this method, a plastic bag is placed over your plant, this then acts as a mini-greenhouse and water will be captured as it evaporates before being released back down to the plant as water droplets.
It’s one of the most affordable and long-lasting solutions to keeping plants watered while you’re away and all you’ll need is a plastic bag and some wooden pegs.
All you need to do is follow these three simple steps:
Step one: Place four wood stakes in each corner of your plant pot, these will act as the base of your tent
Step two: Water your plant as you usually would and leave it in indirect sunlight. It’s important that you don’t place the plant in direct sunlight as it will heat the bag too much and could end up killing your plant
Step three: Find a plastic bag large enough to wrap around your plant and place it over, make sure that the leaves are not touching the bag too much
What types of plants does the plastic bag greenhouse method work for?
The plastic bag greenhouse method can be used for a variety of plants, but it works best on houseplants.
However, you should avoid using this hack for succulents as they won’t be able to withstand the high levels of moisture.
Instead, it’s better to leave succulents un-watered while you’re away as they can withstand longer periods of neglect and are able to survive without water for one to three months.
