Taking care of plants is a lot harder than people who don’t have them might think. It’s usually not enough to simply water them regularly and set them in the sun – at least, not forever.

OP has older siblings, but it’s her job to water the potted plants in their mother’s garden. She doesn’t do the chore every day, because she has good instincts and realizes that too much water can kill plants as fast (or even faster) than not enough.

We have an outdoor garden, which my mother loves, but doesn’t always have the time to care for properly. So it falls on me to do so.

Now a big thing to note is a common reason potted plants can die is, surprisingly, overwatering.

This is why I inspect the soil daily, and skimp on watering for the day if it’s clear that the soil is still moist, and needs a bit of drying.

Her older sister insists on watering every day, despite the plants beginning to fail.

Enter my elder sister, who I suspect is mostly doing this for a power trip, though I won’t discount simple ignorance completely.

I won’t get into all my grievances with her, but in summary, I’ve been told by my parents to do as she says, purely because she’s older than me, and therefore always in the right.

I’ve explained my reasons to her as to why I don’t water everyday.

So of course, she took it upon herself to water on my “off-days”, despite clear evidence of the plants beginning to die of root rot.

Then, she complained to their parents that OP doesn’t do her “job” every single day and she’s tired of doing it for her.

At some point she straight up told me, right when I’m about to have breakfast, to drop it, and water the plants immediately, and every single day. This is despite me watering them just yesterday.

Sister: “It’s your duty, not mine. Water them every single day. They are not getting enough water, which is why they’re dying.”

Me: “The soil is still quite damp, and a rich brown. They actually need drying a bit.”

Sister: “Don’t assume anything. That’s just the surface.”

Parents: “Do as she says. We’ll keep your food warm.”

No one will listen to reason, so OP started watering every day. The plants are dying, but no one seems to care about anything other than her chore getting done.

At that very moment, I’ve stopped caring. I’ve since begun to do exactly that every day.

Rain or shine, the soil will get their fill, even as the plants begin to wilt and wither from overwatering, begging to be dried out for a bit.

At some point, they asked a professional for a second opinion, and had already suggested overwatering as the cause of the sudden malady inflicted on the garden.

They either did not believe him, or didn’t catch that detail, but they did swap out the soil of the potted plants.

Of course, they’re still being watered everyday, with predictable results.

Should OP care more about the poor plants? I wonder what Reddit is going to say!

The top commenter is very sorry for the plants.

You now the definition of insanity, right?

But who will speak for the plants???

Plants can actually stand to get pretty dry without damage.

This person thinks OP should get her own plants and show them how it’s done.

These people are just silly.

Who puts in all the work to have a garden but not to learn how to care for it?

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.