Monty Don shares ‘secret’ to keeping houseplants ‘happy and healthy’ all winter

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Monty Don, best known for his role in Gardeners’ World, regularly shares gardening tips and advice. Heading into the winter months, the expert has shared his top tips for keeping indoor plants healthy when the heating is on inside.

Posting a video on Twitter, Monty Don shared how houseplant owners can care for their plants in the winter months.

He said: “When the weather is really bad, of course that’s when we make it as cosy as we can indoors and that means turning up the central heating.

“Well that’s lovely for us but it really isn’t so good for houseplants, and of course this is the time of year where we want them to be at their very best.

“Although the quickest way to kill a houseplant is to overwater it, if the air is too dry and when your central heating hits, then they suffer.

“So the solution is to treat yourself to a really good spray, there are lots of different kinds available and they all work.

“The secret is to give the plants a generous spray at least once a day.”

Misting houseplants is a very simple but effective way of increasing their humidity.

Plants with brown or dry leaf tips can also benefit from regular misting.

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It is recommended to use tepid water and to do the job early in the morning so the plants have all day to dry out.

Monty added: “It only takes about a minute and ideally you do it where you don’t have too many soft furnishings.

“If the foliage is running with water that will keep them happy and healthy when your house is toasty and warm.”

This is especially true for houseplants which love the humidity such as a snake plant, prayer plant and fern.

Speaking in a recent BritxBox video on YouTube, the expert provided top tips on how to feed houseplants and when to feed them.

Monty said: “Every plant that is grown in a container will sooner or later need a supplementary feed because it will exhaust the available nutrients inside the pot.

“If you overfeed, it will result in overly lush soft tissue and soft growth that is much prone to disease and predation.

“The key to it is to feed when the plant is actively growing.

“You want to encourage lush growth and lots of greenery.”

This is typically done within the spring and summer months and less in the winter due to houseplants going through dormant phases.

Succulents and cacti don’t need feed to survive. 

Houseplants should also be placed in the right position, with some loving direct sunlight and some preferring the shade.

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