5 Days Of Indoor Gardening | Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29 - video Dailymotion

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This week on Try Living With Lucie, our host Lucie Fink takes us inside her apartment for indoor gardening. In this 5 day challenge, she educates herself and us on keeping plants alive indoors. Watch this episode of Try Living With Lucie to hone your indoor green thumb!  #athomewithme  Products Used: For 15 % off of Soltech Solutions Aspect light use code BloomandGrow15: http://bit.ly/2J8Dctt  For 10 % off the Modern Sprout Growhouse use code B&G10: https://fave.co/2kBWbC4  For $5 off of anything from The Sill use code BLOOM5: https://fave.co/2J4MIhe  For 15% off a citrus tree use code BLOOMCITRUS: https://fave.co/2xrQEXV  For 20% off a Back to the Roots water garden or any other indoor gardening product use code REFINERY20: https://fave.co/2sjCJ13  Bloom & Grow Radio Subscribe on iTunes here: https://apple.co/2kCQcgd Episodes to learn more about the topics for each daily challenge: Episode 02: Top 5 Houseplants for Beginners Episode 03: How Not to Kill Your Succulent Episode 12: Everything You Need To Know About Indoor Grow Lights Episode 17: The Science Behind Why Plants Make People Happy and Healthy   Join the Bloom and Grow Online Garden Club: http://bit.ly/2sinxRO  Follow Maria and her plant journey: @bloomandgrowradio on Instagram & on her website: http://bit.ly/2xwhmhT  ABOUT SERIES Try Living With Lucie follows our favorite R29 millennial, Lucie Fink, as she dives headfirst into social experiments — five days at a time. From a week without sugar to full-blown street performing; there is nothing she won't try!    ABOUT REFINERY29  Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/  RELATED CONTENT 5 Days Of A Capsule Wardrobe https://youtube.com/watch?v=Di9Bjf_OPj4 5 Days Of Meal Prep https://youtube.com/watch?v=DWaU47V3rMU 5 Days Of Hygge https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZTwOsL-pVzU  SEE MORE REFINERY29 VIDEOS http://refinery29.com/video  SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29 Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29 For the latest trends and videos, visit: http://refinery29.com Like Refinery29 on Facebook: https://facebook.com/refinery29 Follow Refinery29 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/refinery29 Heart Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/  TALENT Follow Bloom & Grow Radio on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bloomandgrowradio/ Follow Lucie Fink on Instagram: https://instagram.com/luciebfink/ Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/

Transcript

00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is five days of indoor gardening.

00:04Hey guys! What's up? Welcome back to Try Living with Lucy.

00:07Give this episode a thumbs up and subscribe right here.

00:10And speaking of thumbs, this week's video is all about turning our brown thumbs green.

00:15Indoor gardening has always been something that I found inspiring and aspirational.

00:20Not only do plants improve our air quality and teach us to be better caretakers,

00:24but pretty much every single inspiring apartment photo on the internet

00:28has some form of greenery in it.

00:30And sadly, I've tried and tried to keep plants indoors,

00:33but without fail, they always seem to die. Rest in peace.

00:37So when I started planning for this episode, I knew just the right person to reach out to.

00:43Hello, future plant lady!

00:46Maria Faella and I went to high school together.

00:49She's a Broadway star here in New York City,

00:51and her side hustle is hosting and producing the Bloom and Grow radio podcast.

00:56My first five years in the city, I was a succulent killer.

01:01I killed every plant I ever brought into my apartment.

01:04I literally and figuratively went from zero to 60 plants,

01:06and now I'm living in a small one-bedroom apartment with about 60 houseplants.

01:10So if she can do it, then I can do it.

01:12And if I can do it, then you can do it.

01:16Before I started putting some greenery in here,

01:18I needed to dedicate the first day of this week to some field research.

01:21I went over to Maria's cute little apartment today, and I took a tour of her setup.

01:26She has an herb garden in her kitchen inside of a grow house.

01:29She has plants scattered all around the living room.

01:32She's growing a lime tree in her corner.

01:34Tomato seedlings are growing inside of her bookshelf in her bedroom, and so much more.

01:40That's the funnest part about having plants.

01:41The more plants you have, the more you can spread the planty love.

01:44So after seeing her situation and taking a few mental notes for myself,

01:48the two of us took a trip back to my apartment so that we could evaluate my space.

01:52I have such window envy for you.

01:55This is incredible.

01:57Western facing windows are the second best type you can have,

01:59because the sun starts in the east and it's burning hotter in the west,

02:03so you're getting stronger light than if it was an eastern facing window.

02:06Afternoon sun.

02:08Nailing it.

02:08The next thing you're going to want to ask yourself is,

02:10what type of plant parent are you going to be?

02:12The question is, do you want plants that you're going to have to water every single day,

02:16or would you prefer a more low maintenance option that can thrive,

02:19even if you're not home every day or if you have a very busy schedule?

02:22For me, it's the latter.

02:23And then we just did a walkthrough of my living room space,

02:26and we talked through some general ideas.

02:28I can even grow some food in the kitchen with a grow light.

02:31Many of you have sent me messages already saying that you've killed every single plant you've touched,

02:35and that's why it's so important to do this evaluation ahead of time

02:39so that you're already set up for success before you buy the plants.

02:45Today is the day when we really start going green.

02:48I took Maria along with me and we went to the plant district to do a little bit of plant

02:52shopping.

02:53Yesterday, Maria taught me a few different potting and watering techniques.

02:57So when it comes to potting, you can either keep a plant inside of its nursery planter,

03:00which already has drainage, or you can repot it yourself.

03:04If you decide to repot it, you'll either need to make sure that it's in a pot with drainage holes

03:08at the bottom,

03:09or if you put it in a pot without drainage, you'll have to make your own drainage system

03:13by adding stones or rocks to the bottom underneath the soil.

03:16You just have to be careful about overwatering and root rot,

03:19which happens when the roots sit in too much water.

03:22But if the pot does have drainage, you can either pour water right over the soil

03:25until it drips out the bottom holes,

03:27or you can just sit the plant into a shallow bowl of water

03:30and let the roots suck the water up from the bottom until the top of the soil gets moist.

03:35Because I'm a total plant newbie, I wanted to give myself the biggest possible challenge today.

03:40So after going to the plant district and buying our selections,

03:42I decided to repot almost everything.

03:46I got a snake plant, a money tree, a parlor palm, and a sago palm.

03:50The money tree was in a nursery pot that fit really nicely into my container, so I left that one

03:55as is.

03:55But for the others, I lined the bottom of the pot with lava rocks to make my own drainage.

04:00I took them out of their nursery pots.

04:02I gently massaged the roots to loosen up any packed soil around them.

04:06And then I repotted them in their new homes.

04:08I also got three smaller plants.

04:11Huwerthia, ripsalis, and a yellow moon cactus.

04:14And repotted each of these in a smaller pot that had existing drainage.

04:18Air plants were some of my favorites from Maria's apartment,

04:21and they're also very easy to take care of.

04:23So I got six of those to line up in cute little holders above my TV.

04:29And a couple of extras that were actually growing flowers to display around the apartment.

04:34These plants don't need direct sunlight.

04:36And to water them, Maria told me that you just soak them in water for one hour once a week,

04:40and then you let them dry upside down.

04:42By the end of the day, my comfort level with these plants had noticeably shifted.

04:46I started off pretty unsure of myself.

04:48I was scooping the potting mix with a spoon.

04:51I was very timid while I was touching the plants.

04:53But by the end, I was digging the mix out with my bare hands,

04:57and I was packing the soil in very confidently.

04:59I totally got the hang of it and knew what I was doing.

05:02Woo!

05:04And just one day later, I have 15 house plants.

05:11The ability to grow your own food and to snip some chives in the morning and put them in your

05:16eggs is the best feeling.

05:17It's one thing to own plants and take care of them, but it's entirely different to grow living greens that

05:23you're then going to eat and nourish your body with.

05:25There are so many fun ways that you can do this, so today I wanted to show you two different

05:29methods to give you some options.

05:31First, I bought pre-grown herbs, basil, chives, and rosemary, and I replanted them from their nursery pots into a

05:37white rectangular planter box.

05:39Smells like pizza.

05:40I had to create my own drainage with stones on the bottom, and then after planting them all together,

05:45I placed the box inside of a grow house from a company called Modern Sprout.

05:49This is basically a glass and brass antique case with a strip of LED lights along the top.

05:54So you set the lights on an automatic timer, and then they mimic that gradual fade from dawn to dusk

06:00so that your plants get that perfect spectrum of light.

06:02Another amazing low-maintenance alternative is just get the Back to the Roots water tank.

06:08So next, I took the plunge, literally, and experimented with some aquaponics.

06:13I went out and bought a blue female betta fish to put in my Back to the Roots water garden.

06:19I followed all of the steps for assembly and then chose to grow wheatgrass, pea shoots, and sunflower microgreens.

06:26The plant bed sits on top of the fish tank.

06:28So basically, you feed your fish, and then the fish waste fertilizes your plants, and the plants clean the water.

06:35So this is a self-cleaning fish tank that's going to grow really, really healthy, nutrient-dense microgreens on top

06:41that I'm going to be able to put in my salads, my smoothies, and juices.

06:44And apparently, it's only going to take two weeks to grow, so if you want to track the progress of

06:48my water garden,

06:49check out my Instagram stories at lucybfink.

06:52I also took a poll on my Instagram stories to help me name my fish, and a majority of you

06:56guys voted for the name Buttercup.

06:58So guess what?

06:59I now have a fish named Buttercup.

07:02She's just getting acquainted with her new tank, but I'm going to go to the pet store soon,

07:05and I'm going to buy her some colorful plants and some structures that she can hide in.

07:09Buttercup is going to have the best fish life.

07:15My home is looking great, but almost every single day when I've left my apartment and headed off to work,

07:20I felt a little bit sad leaving my plants behind.

07:23And now I have a fish. I'm a busy mom.

07:26And now that I'm getting used to having them around, when I get to my office and I see my

07:30lack of greenery situation,

07:31it's a little sad.

07:32You're at your office five to eight hours a day. You're around a ton of synthetic material, photocopy machines, your

07:39computer.

07:40All of these things are emitting these volatile organic compounds, otherwise known as VOCs.

07:45And these VOCs are just swimming around in the air, and they're really bad for you, and we're breathing them

07:49in.

07:50What plants do is through their natural, everyday processes, they actually absorb these VOCs and neutralize them for us.

07:58Refinery29 does a great job of this already, and there's actually a lot of greenery all around our office.

08:04But I myself don't have any plants on my desk, so today was about adding that greenery into my personal

08:10breathable airspace.

08:11I went onto the Sills website and ordered a few plants.

08:14A Haworthia zebra plant, a Hoya heart plant, and a Parlor palm.

08:18They all come pre-potted, it's nice and easy, and you just remove them from their packaging and set them

08:23up wherever you want.

08:24I intentionally chose these plants because full sun is ideal for them, and my window at work is southern facing

08:30and gets great light.

08:32And also because they're super low maintenance and they only need to be watered once every couple of weeks or

08:36so.

08:37I set up one final succulent on my desk from Lula's garden, and this one wanted indirect sunlight, so I

08:42placed it a little further from the window.

08:44And four days later, I have 25 plants. I have to say, I'm feeling pretty green.

08:50For my final challenge this week, I wanted to take on a bit of a longer term project.

08:54Maria inspired me to grow my very own lime tree.

08:58I figured it was easier to start by buying a pre-potted tree, so I got one from Via Citrus.

09:03It came in the mail nice and easy, and then knowing that my western facing windows might not do the

09:08trick,

09:08I decided to set it up in the corner on a stool beneath a Soltech Solutions 40 watt LED grow

09:14light.

09:15It comes with a timer, so I set it for 10 hours of light a day.

09:19I made sure the light was close enough to the top of the citrus, and then I turned it on.

09:23This week has really changed my life more than most Try Living With Lucy episodes do.

09:28And unlike most challenges where I kind of just go back to the way I was living before,

09:32I brought so many new things into my world now that are going to be such a huge part of

09:36my day-to-day life.

09:37We live in this crazy, overpopulated, polluted city, and as millennials, it's really hard for us to unplug.

09:44Bringing plants into your home is such a great way to stay grounded and remember that everything is blooming and

09:50growing at its own rate.

09:51I have 26 plants and a pet fish, and something tells me that this is just the beginning for me.

09:57I really hope this episode inspires you to bring some green into your space.

10:01I'm adding links in the description box below for some of the products I used this week,

10:05like my grow house, my grow light, my water garden, and more.

10:08And if you're looking for more tips on how you can try this for yourself,

10:12don't forget to listen to the Bloom and Grow radio podcast,

10:14where Maria interviews tons of experts and learns along the way.

10:18Comment below and let me know what you want to see me try next.

10:20And in the meantime, keep on blooming and growing.

10:24Hey YouTube, thanks for watching. Click here for another video on Refinery29,

10:29here to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and right here for my personal YouTube channel.

10:34See ya!

5 Days Of Indoor Gardening | Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29

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