Home & Garden Discussions

Sorry to hear about your plant dieing. We bought one of those kits similar to what you had and we had a hard time growing them too. There are a lot of ways to grow plants and each type of plant can be unique. Tomatoes I would reccomend you get your own pots and soil to start. Place the seeds 1/4" under the surface of the soil and place in awarm sunny place. Keep the soil damp to promote germination until the seeds sprout. Once they sprout you must be a little more particular with the sprouts. Too cold of a breeze, too stiff of a wind and they could die. Keep them in a well ventilated but wind restricted environment. (Anything similiar to a green house effect to stop the wind and keep them in a warm environment.) Once the seedlings are 2 weeks of age or so, you can give them a very mild amount of fertilizer to help give them a boost, From the time they sprout until they are 2 or 3 weeks old, overwatering will kill them very quickly as well so it is better to give them a "little" amount each day rather than water until they are "wet". You will find after they are about 6 to 8 inches tall and ready to plant outside, they become a lot easier to grow. I hope this helps and good luck!

GG131  My husband the green thumb.

Thanks alot.I think i may try that this Spring coming up and see how it goes.I am getting so much helpful advice from all over so I may give it a go again and see whats happens.Thanks alot.

First off try something very simple to build your confidence!  Tomatoes aren't difficult per se, but they can be a little needy with getting viruses and so forth.  This winter try a houseplant.  A spider plant is a great choice to me because they are easy to have around, don't take tremendous amounts of care and will reward you with baby spider plants if you treat them well. :)

The number one killer of plants is over loving them.  Inside or outside plants die mostly from over watering than anything else so keep that in check.  

So then when spring comes around you might be ready to tackle a tomato garden!  Good luck!~

I didn't have much luck with my tomato plant I bought but I live on the ocean so I blame it on the wind and salt. However, in the house I'm much better. One key is to buy easy to care for plants like cactus plants and the never dying philadendrum. I swear you can forget to water them for a month and they do great.

Patti read my mind: a hardy houseplant is a great place to start.

The other thing I'd add to that is, consider the places you have to put it. For example, if you don't have a southern exposure but live up north, then you may not get a ton of sunlight inside during the winter. Pick a plant that matches the lighting conditions available. (The plant folks at the store should be able to give tips.) Otherwise you can supplement plant light with a full-spectrum bulb, if you don't mind using a bit of electricity. (Don't leave it on 24 hours a day though; plants have to "sleep" too!)

There are also some larger houseplants that are all but unkillable.  The Dracena family is a good start.  The "cornplant" or the Marginata are two I like best.  They require little if any light and need very little water.  Either will be a big confidence booster.

I want a bonzai tree and I am gonna buy ne imported all the way from it's native land China.Any ideas?

Let's see.  You have a "brown thumb" and you're ordering a Bonzai Tree.  I'd recommend that you keep a medium size cardboard carton handy.  It will save time when you have to throw it away.