Plants! Request for help

[rax]

I... do not have a plants icon. I wonder if I should get one. [0]

Today I mowed the lawn --- all of it, which took maybe an hour and a half --- and tended to some plants in the back. Sadly, it looks like the housesitter who did an excellent job tending to the cats and gecko... forgot about the plants. The herbs are all dead, the plant from ab3nd is dead, and two of the three berry bushes are more brown than green. There's still some green left, though, and I'd like to save them if I can. The thing is: I have no idea how. Basically all I know about plants is that they are evil and how photosynthesis works. Is it best to trim away the dead stuff? Do you pluck off dead leaves, or let them fall naturally? If I do trim away dead stuff, do I cut into the green, or above the green, or? Is there a book I should buy?

I'm mostly OK with gardening being a "try again next year" project but if I can keep these bushes alive I won't have to buy new ones next year and that would be a big plus. (And there are a couple of bushes in the front that I think might have been berry bushes and I jut didn't know!) Any help is appreciated.

[0] If you are not saying "Holy crap" right now, perhaps because you're a new friend, I have a serious phobia of plants. Super maladaptive, right? When I was three or four I would not walk on grass, even with shoes on, even with a blanket on the grass. When I was around twelve there was this bizarre incident where my parents wanted me to trim a weed and I was sufficiently scared of the weed that I chose to sit in my bedroom all day without food rather than touch it. Eventually, really confused, they relented and dealt with the weed themselves. This has always made me sad because my hippie-woo-foxy side is super into undergrowth and shade and forest and those places would feel comfortable if they didn't trigger the phobia. I've gotten much better about this over the years, a big chunk from dating people like Stephen and Cassandra who are serious plant people but also just from saying "Goddamnit I do not want to be terrified of plants" and working on it. I once spent an hour staring down a poinsettia and almost touching it. In retrospect this is utterly ridiculous; at the time it was totally serious.

Comments

[eredien]

Just try and water them. The berry plants especially will need a few rounds of soaking; as in saturate the earth and come back again 15 m later to do that 3 or 4 times. The smaller plants will also need to start with a soaking, especially the willow tree which is a waterloving plant anyway. If you do want to trim them later use the clippers in the garage. If you did not get my earlier set of instructions to you and the person who was supposed to water the plants, I can send it again. I would say daily watering for now though. You'll be able to tell when they perk up again. You will want to throw out the dead herbs and ab3nd's plant as otherwise they will rot and attract bugs.

[rax.livejournal.com]

Actually it would be awesome if you resent it; I'm at inbox 7544 and I have no idea which things I filed and didn't.

I've already watered everything once but I'll water the berry bushes a couple more times, thanks.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

When you water, water slowly. I think you've had pretty hot droughty conditions, yes? Putting the hose on, on a tiny trickle, and leaving it for a couple hours will allow the water to seep in slowly and really spread through the soil around the plant's roots. It helps a bit to heap up a shallow ridge of earth about 12" from the stem, in a circle, to keep the water from just spreading away, as it comes out of the hose. Move hose and repeat for each plant you want to water.

The other way to do this is to have a big bucket, like 5 gallons (Home Depot sells them for tools and Stuff), that you punch a very small hole in at the bottom, which you place next to the plant, fill rapidly with water, and leave to seep. This way you don't need to remember to turn the hose off too!

Potted plants suffer drought more than in-ground ones (with the exception of geraniums/pelargoniums); berry plants are pretty tough and if you nurse them a little now (no fertilizer, just water, and spray off with the hose on high pressure any aphids that start in on them) you'll probably find they overwinter OK.

[ab3nd.livejournal.com]

My general rule is probably bad, but it works like this: If I stick my finger in the soil and it feels moist, I don't water, but if it feels dry, I do. The rate at which a plant will dry up the earth around it relates to the mobility of water in the earth and the size of the plant, so my big houseplants (relative to their pot) require watering more often.

Overwatering will cause roots to rot, and possible mildew on the surface of the soil. This is hard to do outdoors, as the drainage area is huge, but easy to do in pots.

The dead herbs may be able to be cut off and dried, so you may yet get some use out of them.