Grow a green thumb

So one of the trees I’m growing has yet to be potted up, and has been further hampered (I think) because the planter leaks significantly (the other planter shows no signs of leakage, so I assume the leak is a no-no). The time to pot-up came this morning. Pretty easy now that I’ve done it a couple times, but alas, I ran out of soil. I will have to get some this weekend and hope that not too much damage will be done to this tree. It deserved a bigger home, and I’m still having fun playing with the trowel!

I finally moved into an apartment where I have the space and comfort to improve my gardening skills. Okay, so the backyard is a stretch of cement, but my partner’s dad donated a couple young trees, still in planters, to us, and I’ve added a bromeliad and a basil plant to the collection.

It’s all a bit tentative, though, since I have no models to follow and it can be tricky locating instructions online. The bromeliad looks to be in the worst shape; I’ve kept it indoors and out of direct sunlight for the most part, but it’s leaves continue to yellow and the flower itself looks worn. A few weeks ago, when I potted up one of the trees, I added a fertilizer to each plant, including the bromeliad. Not sure if that was the right thing to do.

The trees look okay, although I worry about one because it’s planter leaks, and with both trees, the leaves are yellowing in the middle. I was just told to keep it in the shade more often, so maybe that will help. The basil plant has been easy to manage thus far, but since clipping some parts to dry into herbs, I’ve noticed a little, well, let’s call it entropy.

At this point I give my green thumb a solid 3.5/10. They say you are your worst critic, but that’s only because the plants can’t talk!