It’s been about two-and-a-half or three weeks since I showed you all new pictures of the front of our house, and before I took those pictures, I bought new plants for the mailbox planter, the two pots beside the front steps, and planter between the chairs on the front porch. But then I forgot to get good close-up pictures of them.
To be honest, I didn’t expect the plants to last. I have the very opposite of a green thumb. I’ve never been able to keep plants alive. But these plants are not only surviving. They’re thriving!
I mean, just look at this one! It wasn’t spilling over nearly this much right after I planted it.
And I have never been able to keep a fern alive through the month of August. I can handle June, maybe part of July, but August means dead ferns for me. But this one is thriving!
And probably the most shocking of all is that the flowers in the mailbox planter are not just surviving, but they’re thriving also.
I am just amazed at how well these are all doing during our hottest month of the year when the temperature gets to around 100 degrees every day.
None of these plants were doing great the first week. They were surviving, but they weren’t growing. And then I changed one thing that made all the difference in the world.
Instead of watering these plants with water from the outside spigot, I started watering them with the water from our dehumidifier. A few of you suggested that, but it seemed like such a hassle to me. But when my new plants started looking like they were heading for trouble, I decided to give it a try. And I honestly can’t believe how much of a difference that made.
As soon as I started giving them the dehumidifier water, they started looking healthier, they started growing, and the three flowering plants started putting out more flowers.
And I’ve actually started enjoying the process of watering my plants every night. Until now, taking care of plants was something I dreaded…because they would always die anyway . That’s one reason I haven’t been in a hurry to get our yard landscaped. I figured I wouldn’t be able to keep anything alive anyway, so it’s better to dream about it than actually do it.
But now, I thoroughly enjoy my routine of taking that dehumidifier water container outside and watering the plants each night before I go to bed. And it’s motivating when I can get up the next morning and see how they’re thriving, growing, and putting out more flowers.
So now that I’ve seen firsthand just how big of a difference water directly from the air can make to plants (as opposed to city water…how sad is that?), I’m starting to think about rain barrels and other ways to collect rainwater. Obviously, my dehumidifier doesn’t collect enough for an entire planting bed full of plants.
So I want to think about how to collect rainwater, where I can put rain barrels, and then how to get the water from the barrels to the plants easily. Does that require watering by hand? Will I have to be out here every evening watering my plants by hand from the rain barrels? And since we don’t get much rain through the summer, is there a way to collect it during the rainy season (generally April and May) for use through the summer? I need to look into it because I know nothing about plants, gardens, or collecting rainwater. But now, after my very small victory with my four outdoor plants, I want to learn everything I can about these topics.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
