Keeping a garden and/or some indoor plants is a great witchy practice, especially green and kitchen witches! However, to save yourself a lot of frustration and to make sure your green babies get the care they need, it’s important to research a few things before you plant:
Sun and shade requirements
Full sun means the area gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day
Partial shade means the area gets 3-6 hours of direct sunlight, probably in the morning when it’s cooler.
Dappled shade means that the plant lives almost exclusively on indirect light: it gets a couple hours of cool light in the morning, and lives in filtered light like the kind through a forest canopy the rest of the time.
Figure out what the light conditions are where you want to plant, and make sure you plant things that can deal with that amount of light. Some plants find too much sun stressful and will dry out too fast, others will start to rot if they don’t have that direct sunlight to help them eat up their water.
Drought tolerance
If you live in an especially arid area, you will want almost exclusively drought-tolerant plants. If your area is more humid, then you’re going to water your drought-tolerant plants even less than one normally would. Research the aridity/humidity of your area, and adjust your plant’s watering accordingly.
Soil & Drainage
Not every plant actually wants a rich, dark, mulchy soil. Many cacti and succulents prefer soil that is mixed with sand and small stones to help it drain faster (too much water sticking around the roots can cause root rot), and plants that enjoy full sun and are drought tolerant tend to prefer well-drained containers that don’t hold on to water forever. Research your plant’s preferences and adjust their soil and drainage accordingly. More holes and stones or sand make things drain faster, less of both make them drain slower.
Depth & Distance
Some plants really need their elbow room, others need to be close together for support. Some do best when they can grow a big ol’ taproot that digs deep deep down into the groundwater, others are happy sticking near the surface. If you’re growing your plants in containers, research the root structures of your desired plants, and choose ones that can expand to a healthy rate in your containers and make sure new seedlings have enough distance from each other that their root systems don’t choke each other out. Your seed packet should have instructions on how far apart to plant.
Companion Planting
Many plants can benefit from being near each other: the pests common to one plant may be deterred by the smell or property of its close neighbour, one can attract pollinators for both, and so on. Research optimal companions for your desired plants.
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