Very true! I am already having a bit of a time remembering my window garden, to be honest. I should be embarrassed to say that on a gardening forum!
Indoor plants that are both animal- and fool-proof
- Thread starter LindaKay
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If you get a decent amount of Sun in the room or rooms you want to place your plants, you will do fine. Start with a couple of Pothos because they are easy to care for. Don't over-water your plants. It's better to under-water than it is to over-water your plants because over-watering will quickly kill your plants. If a plant doesn't have enough water, the soil will be dry and more than likely the plant will droop, the leaves will not be at attention. Once you water the plant, in 10-15 minutes you will see the leaves perk up.
Here's a link to some Indoor Gardening tips that you might find helpful..
Thanks so much for that link, taskenic! It looks really in-depth and answers a lot of the questions that I was having.
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A Chinese evergreen is a great child-pet-fool proof plant. If you water properly, and trim dead leaves, it will last a long time. The picture is my own Chinese evergreen, 4 years old. This past years cold snap, killed some of the leaves, but not all. After trimming dead leaves, it has bounced back very well.
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My best measure against animals is putting the plants on a table and filling it up. My cat loved to eat plants, but if he can't get on the table then he can't eat my plants ;D. In my experience, dogs don't tend to eat the plants very often. They get enough of that outside.
Christmas Cactus is pretty easy to grow. It's not very good for pets as it will make them sick. Our cat tried to munch on it a bit but he learned really quickly that it wasn't that fun. I also don't have any issues with violets. The animals don't seem to like the texture. My animals have always been pretty fussy about what they will and won't eat though. I'd suggest growing some easy plants and just keep an eye on it to see if your animals go after it or not. As long as you don't go buying a poinsettia or other highly poisonous plant, there shouldn't be too much of an issue if your animals get a hold of a bit.
Wheatgrass is about the easiest plant to grow and is actually nutritious for animals and humans. In my opinion though, growing grass is boring lol. Rosemary is also very easy to grow, so is basil. I don't believe either of them cause harm to animals and they smell and taste great. As long as they sit in a window and get some water, it's pretty hard to kill them. Rosemary is better if you tend to forget the plants though. I forgot about it in the window for a couple weeks and it didn't seem to care. Catnip is another option but my cat didn't seem to care about it since he couldn't roll around in it. There's a few other options for pets but I can't remember the names. I believe most PetSmart's have a section by the counter for edible plants for pets if you'd like to go that route though.
I think your best choice though would be to try growing something simple and strictly enforce a "do NOT eat my plants" policy. If you are strict with animals from the get go, they will usually obey. Especially dogs, they love to please people. Our cat won't eat any of our plants anymore because of it. He still digs in the dirt though... strange cat. Although, if you'd like to allow your pet to have some plants to munch on, make sure you keep them in separate areas so they know "this area is not allowed". If you put them together, the animal won't be able to tell which it's allowed and which it isn't.
Christmas Cactus is pretty easy to grow. It's not very good for pets as it will make them sick. Our cat tried to munch on it a bit but he learned really quickly that it wasn't that fun. I also don't have any issues with violets. The animals don't seem to like the texture. My animals have always been pretty fussy about what they will and won't eat though. I'd suggest growing some easy plants and just keep an eye on it to see if your animals go after it or not. As long as you don't go buying a poinsettia or other highly poisonous plant, there shouldn't be too much of an issue if your animals get a hold of a bit.
Wheatgrass is about the easiest plant to grow and is actually nutritious for animals and humans. In my opinion though, growing grass is boring lol. Rosemary is also very easy to grow, so is basil. I don't believe either of them cause harm to animals and they smell and taste great. As long as they sit in a window and get some water, it's pretty hard to kill them. Rosemary is better if you tend to forget the plants though. I forgot about it in the window for a couple weeks and it didn't seem to care. Catnip is another option but my cat didn't seem to care about it since he couldn't roll around in it. There's a few other options for pets but I can't remember the names. I believe most PetSmart's have a section by the counter for edible plants for pets if you'd like to go that route though.
I think your best choice though would be to try growing something simple and strictly enforce a "do NOT eat my plants" policy. If you are strict with animals from the get go, they will usually obey. Especially dogs, they love to please people. Our cat won't eat any of our plants anymore because of it. He still digs in the dirt though... strange cat. Although, if you'd like to allow your pet to have some plants to munch on, make sure you keep them in separate areas so they know "this area is not allowed". If you put them together, the animal won't be able to tell which it's allowed and which it isn't.