• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
    • Punch Needle
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • TikTok
    • YouTube

How-to: Maintain an Indoor Gutter Garden

June 4, 2013 4 Comments

How-to: Maintan an Indoor Gutter Garden

Visit How-to: Faux Copper Gutter Garden for instructions on making your own indoor gutter gardens step-by-step.

After receiving an email from a reader* asking for the finer points of building indoor gutter gardens (one of my most popular DIYs), I realized an update was in order. I first made my indoor gutter gardens over a year ago in an effort to add some green to the large upstairs bathroom in my 2-floor, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. *A big thank you goes out to reader Natalie for reaching out with her question!

One year on, I have a lot of tips for gutter garden maintenance, particularly in an indoor space that has a lot of humidity.

I recommend investing a little more time than I did in selecting the plants for your garden. I simply picked plants I enjoyed the look of at the hardware store.

  1. Don’t buy plants at the hardware store. If you want houseplants that will for sure last for more than a year, invest in plants that come from a reputable nursery or store. I get  most of my household plants a Chicago’s Fleur. They are always in excellent health and last a long time with proper care. Some of my hardware store plants came with some rot I hadn’t noticed when I bought them and died relatively quickly. Others up and died out of nowhere despite my giving them proper care. (I was so pissed!)
  2. Speaking of proper care, make sure to research the best care for your plants. If you’re buying potted plants at a reputable store, ask the staff. They should have some great tips for plant care. If you note the names of your plants, there’s always the internet or books to find help in too.
  3. Buy the right kind of plants for the environment. Plants from tropical regions have done better than plants that like a drier climate in my gutter garden. Because, duh, it’s in a bathroom.
  4. Remember to group plants requiring similar care together. Don’t plant a cactus in the same planter as a leafy tropical plant and expect the excess water to go over well. Remember – they’re sharing the same soil, and therefore, the same water.

Tend and feed your plants. I use a little bit of plant food diluted in water every couple months to keep my plants healthy. I also prune them as needed, removing dead leaves or length if they’re growing too big.

Use grow lights. While I have a skylight in my bathroom, I still live in Chicago. We have short days in winter, and a lot of cloudy days in general. Plants need light a certain amount of time every day to live. Invest in some simple work lights and plant light bulbs. Note: they’re not bulbs you plant in the ground to grow flowers in the spring. The hardware store folks will think that’s what you want if you need help finding them. You can see my lights in the first picture at the top of this post.

How-to: Maintan an Indoor Gutter Garden at HandsOccupied.com

images via here & here

Hate something you planted? Switch it out. I ended up removing some plants that I just got sick of looking at. The plants I had in the top right of my gutter gardens a year ago grew really unattractively, so I replaced them with something I liked better.

Plants getting too big? I mentioned pruning, remember to do that. It’s good for your plants. But if you’ve got a plant that can be divided, go for it. I had an obvious gap to fill in the second row of my garden after some hardware store varieties hit the dust. Rather than dropping money on a new plant, I simply moved an offshoot of the plant on the bottom row to the spot above. We’ll see how it grows!

How-to: Maintan an Indoor Gutter Garden at HandsOccupied.com

Drainage is something I get asked a lot about. In the original tutorial, I mentioned lining the bottom of each gutter with some pebbles for drainage. One thing I failed to mention (sorry) was how excess water drains from the gardens. The caps that are placed on each end of the gutter don’t form a watertight seal, so when drainage needs to happen, it just does. Yes, you might want to set some paper towel under your gutter garden before watering. I often water my plants and hold a cup under the endcap of the gutter and reuse any drainage.

How-to: Maintan an Indoor Gutter Garden

Reminder: Visit How-to: Faux Copper Gutter Garden for instructions on making your own indoor gutter gardens step-by-step.

Filed Under: Home Decor, How-to Tagged With: diy, gardening, gutter garden, house plants, maintenance

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author, designer & creator specializing in yarn crafts like knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

Previous Post: « How-to: Oz the Great and Powerful Thaumatrope
Next Post: Catching Fireflies Giveaway Winner! »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • O (mini) Christmas TreeO (mini) Christmas Tree
  • How-to: Transplant a Potted PlantHow-to: Transplant a Potted Plant
  • How-to: Uncle Sam PlanterHow-to: Uncle Sam Planter
  • How-to: Cinder Block PlantersHow-to: Cinder Block Planters

DON’T MISS ANOTHER UPDATE

Comments

  1. Erin

    July 25, 2013 at 12:53 pm

    Do you think something like this would survive through the winter, without the grow lights, if it were in a sunny area of the house?

    Reply
    • Heidi

      July 25, 2013 at 11:03 pm

      It really depends where you are – if you’re far north, the grow lights get pretty important in winter. I grew up in North Dakota where the days are very short in winter, so plants that need light half of the day were really only getting a few hours. Even in Chicago, I’ve found that grow lights can make a big difference. -Heidi

      Reply
      • Erin

        August 8, 2013 at 12:22 pm

        Thanks for the response :) I live in Alberta, Canada. It get’s dark usually around 5 in the winter but we do generally have lots of sun during the day. I guess I could give it a try without the lights and if they’re not doing so well, add some in.

        Reply
  2. Pauline Huang

    March 8, 2014 at 10:32 pm

    I have a bathroom with a high ceiling and a huge skylight. A lot of direct sunlight goes in there during the day. I’ve always thought that it’s like a greenhouse minus the green and plus a toilet, sink, and a bathtub.
    You just gave me a great idea on how to decorate those high walls!
    Now if only I could figure out a way to make watering and draining easier (if it’s difficult to do then nobody would do it and the plants would die).

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Never miss a tutorial with these short & sweet monthly updates.

Find Me on Social Media

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi GustadDiscover Unique Items

Footer

INSTAGRAM

handsoccupied

Helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010
🧶 Really into intarsia
Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop the latest patterns ⤵️

Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts
How to convert a closet into WIPs storage with jus How to convert a closet into WIPs storage with just a few supplies ✂️
.
When I was a librarian, we would use these hanging bags to circulate books with audiobook CDs. They came to mind when I wanted to develop a filing cabinet-like system for my differently-sized WIPs. To fit in my studio closet, a standard bedroom closet, they just needed custom hangers. 🤙🏻 
.
HOW TO MAKE THE HANGERS
1. Carefully cut approx. a 9” (23 cm) length of flexible 3 mm aluminum wire.
2. Near the end of a large knitting needle or dowel, wrap the wire around it as you would a twist tie. 
3. Bend the other end into a hook shape, perpendicular to the circle shape you just created. 
4. Hang like a hanger in a closet, as shown. 
.
#handsoccupied #handmadelife #knitting_inspiration #craftcloset #craftroom #craftroomorganization #craftroomstorage #craftroomdecor #crocheter #latchhook #knittersofinstagram #wip #wips #hangingstorage
It’s time for the monthly review and giveaway! T It’s time for the monthly review and giveaway! This go around, get to know two new sister yarns from @manosyarnsusa, Marla and Sami, and enter to win a skein of each to try for yourself. 
.
What makes these yarns sisters is that, while dyed differently, they’re the same weight and come in intentionally coordinating color palettes. For my review, I opted for a sky-inspired combo of Sami in Natural and Marla in Nube. 🌧️ 
.
Check out the full review & enter the giveaway at the link in my bio. 
.
#handsoccupied #yarnreview #manosdeluruguay #knitting_inspire #crochet #yarngiveaway #knitters #yarn #crochetersofinstagram
If only knitting a whole project took 39 seconds… 😮‍💨 
.
In this video, you can see how the Intarsia Flower Pillow pattern knits up - two flat panels, one with intarsia, both are blocked, and then they’re seamed. Find the pattern on @hi.ravelry & my website, just search Intarsia Flower Pillow. 🌸 
.
P.S. I’m really smiling in this video while seaming the pillow, so I guess I’m proving last week’s claim that I truly enjoy that sometimes-dreaded task. 😆🫣
In knitting, a Left Lifted Increase (LLI) lets you In knitting, a Left Lifted Increase (LLI) lets you add a stitch in between two columns of stitches that leans to the left. Similar to an M1L, LLIs allow you to increase nearly invisibly.
.
To learn more about lifted increases, including when to use them and how they differ from Make 1s, head to the 🔗 in my profle. 
.
Have you ever used lifted increases? I used M1’s almost exclusively for a long time when I needed to inc between stitches, but when I designed the Intarsia Flower Pillow pattern, I needed something that would allow me to increase a lot near my cast on, and M1’s resulted in edge curling. The more you know! 🌈 
.
Yarn: @lionbrandyarn Wool Ease from my Stash / Neddles: @boyeyarncrafts - Just remembered these are the needles I learned to knit on at age 8. 😂
.
#handsoccupied #knitting #learntoknit #howtoknit #sweaterknitting #knitinspiration #knittersofinstagram #liftedincreases
Last week I got to hang out with my family & helpe Last week I got to hang out with my family & helped babysit my red-headed niece and nephew. So here’s some plane knitting, and a couple pictures (shared with permission) of my babysitting adventures.
.
Lessons learned: 1️⃣ Trying to knit around 2 toddlers, 2 cats & 2 large dogs is pretty hard. 2️⃣ I learned during water color time that pink and black make “colorful black.” 🩷🖤 3️⃣ Toddlers do NOT care about your rainbow sorting of their toys. 4️⃣ Toddlers are very good at finding mischief in a very short amount of time, what a surprise. 😂
.
#handsoccupied #knitting #placesyoucanknit #knitters #knitinpublic #handmadelife #knitting_inspiration
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy