 It's just the beginning of March but temperatures are already rising here in Berlin so spring is coming and I thought this would be a great opportunity to share with you how I prepare my plants for spring. So let's go. The first thing that I do is I check how much light my plants are getting and move them accordingly. As you may know during the winter in Berlin we don't get so much sunlight so I try to move my plants closer to the window especially to the south facing window that we have in this apartment because I know they will get the most sunlight there. But as we enter the spring and summer I know that the days are gonna get longer and the light is gonna get more intense in the south facing window and this is when I try to move my plants accordingly. For example, I know that my calatheas will not tolerate so much direct sunlight and by this I mean not so many hours of direct sunlight so then I try to move them away from the window. So you may want to do this as you get closer to the spring if you move your plants closer to a window especially a south facing window or a west facing window during the winter try to see how much light you are getting and what's the tolerance of your plant and move them accordingly. The next thing that I do before the spring comes is to prune my plants. So you may notice that during the winter you're gonna get more yellow leaves or dry leaves. So right before the spring I like to prune those leaves so I can give my plant more space for healthy growth and just to thrive in the growing season. I also take note of which plants I want to propagate. So when I'm pruning my plants I also see which plants are more leggy or they have some opportunity for propagation and then I just cut some cutting so I can propagate them during the spring. Number three, I clean all my plants. You may notice that during the winter because we cannot open our windows so often we lack air circulation and this causes lots of dust to accumulate on the leaves, on the stems. So the time before spring is a great time to clean the leaves on the top, on the bottom, also the stems and also check for any pests hiding underneath the leaves or on the stems so you can prevent any infestation during the growing season. I don't only clean my plants but I also use this time to clean my pots, also the windows so more sunlight can come in, the windowsill so I get all of that dust out and in case any pests are hiding there it's also good to clean there. It's just a great way to start the spring so I really recommend it for yourself and for your plants. Another way to make sure that she will be able to grow and thrive is to check if they need more space in the roots. The way that I check if my plants need reporting is that first I always look at the drainage hole and see if roots are actually coming out of the drainage hole. If you see a lot of roots coming out this may mean that your plant needs more space. Another way to check is if the roots are actually growing around the potting mix this is a very good sign that your plant needs more space to grow the roots. So what I do is I go around my house and take note of which plants need reporting. Then I prepare all of the materials for this plant so I prepare the pots. I also prepare my potting mix for each one of them and I plant a space in my calendar to actually take that time to repot my plants. I can tell you it's a very calming time for me and yeah I think it's very enjoyable when you actually set that time aside. Now if you do repot your plants what I strongly recommend is that you move them to a pot that is one to two sizes bigger maximum. And this is because if you move your plant to a very big pot this can actually cause over watering and it can be a very big shock for your plant. The next thing that I do right before spring or just at the beginning of spring is to check which plants are ready for fertilizer. Now how do we know if our plants are ready for fertilizer? This is really easy. All you need to do is to observe your plants and see which ones are actively growing. So if you look at your plants and you see new leaves, new stems or new flowers this means that your plant is actively growing and she's ready to receive extra nutrients to thrive and grow in the spring. Now something that is very important when fertilizing our plants is that we avoid giving them too much fertilizer. This is because this can cause over fertilization and it can be very damaging to our plants. So what I recommend is that if you're starting to experiment with fertilizers you stay with milder fertilizers or either organic fertilizers or fertilizers that use natural ingredients. For example, this isn't amusing, this fertilizer right here is called instant plant food and I really like it because I know that I'm providing the nutrients that my plants need and at the same time I'm not going to over fertilize them because it is very mild as it is made out of natural ingredients. So for example, if you look at the back here the concentration is not so high. We have 4% nitrogen, 3% phosphate and 6% soluble potash, which is really great. Another thing that I love about this fertilizer is that it's very easy to use. As you can see it comes in this tablet right here and all we have to do is to submerge them in water and then water our plants. It's really easy, so it's very beginner friendly and very sustainable as well because we don't have these big bottles that we have to transport around the world. As you can see it's very, very light. If you would like to try it out instant plant food has offered 20% off to all people in our community. So make sure to check out the link in the description below and I hope that you and your plants love it as much as I do. Do you do anything else to prepare for spring? I would love to know. So make sure to comment below. I can assure you the whole community would appreciate it and that also includes myself. If you would like to support this channel and the work that I do here we do have a Patreon page so if you would like to join us over there I will leave the link over here. And as always, I will see you in the next one. Okay, adios!