How to Keep Your Home Plant-Friendly
If your plants are your babies and your home is full of greenery, you’re in for a treat: We’re going to talk about the plant mom aesthetic and ways you can level up your abode to make it an even better sanctuary for all your foliage. If you’re trying to turn your home into an indoor garden getaway, keep reading.
The Plant Mom Aesthetic: Creating an Indoor Oasis
We’re going beyond the basics that anyone could Google. These pro tips will have your plant babies flourishing in no time — and your own wellness might even improve because of them!
Help Your Plants Breathe Easy With an Air Purifier
Do plants clean the air? Well, a little bit — but not nearly as much as some people think. Not only that, but indoor air pollution (which is worse than outdoor pollution, by the way) can hurt plant growth. It can damage the leaves and roots and prevent the plant from blossoming.
You can support your indoor plants by using an air purifier. An air purification system helps to remove particles big and small from the air. This includes dust, dog fur, and dander. (Having to dust your plants gets a little cumbersome, right?) If you can remove these roadblocks, your plants will have a better chance of flourishing.
Plus, if you love the idea of your plants cleaning the air in your home, then we’re going to guess that crystal-clear air quality is important to you. A purifier can also remove airborne particles, viruses, and bacteria — all sorts of nasty stuff that can make you sick.
Look for something sleek and inconspicuous, and especially an air purifier that has a medical-grade HEPA 13 filter. This is the top-of-the-line technology. Your plants will love it (and you). Find something full-size that covers more square feet, or go with a mini version.
Fills in the Gaps With Low-Maintenance Plants
Have you ever found an empty corner of the room and wondered how you can make it more green without creating more work for yourself? Pick something low-maintenance.
Succulents require very little water, so you can mostly leave them be. String of hearts store water in their long stems, only asking for the occasional mist of water and a few hours of sunlight a day. Snake plants are very tough and drought-tolerant. Spider plants are easy to grow and actually prefer a little less sunlight.
And these are just a few examples!
Some plants are so easy to maintain that you can almost consider them purely decorative. This is a great way to enhance your plant mom aesthetic without making your life harder.
Make Sure Your Home is the Ideal Humidity
Houseplants like a humidity level of approximately 60% to 80%. Not all climates inherently provide this. And, during the winter when the heat is on, the air gets dry and less forgiving.
A humidifier can be a simple way to nurture your babies and boost your plant mom aesthetic. You can find a bigger humidifier that sits on the floor and (ideally) adds moisture to the whole room, or you can look for smaller ones that can fit on a desk or windowsill, to give a few plants extra special attention.
Aside from using a humidifier, there are other ways to add moisture to the air so that your plants can thrive. One simple tip is to group some of your plants together, assuming they have similar needs. This alone improves humidity via transpiration (the process of plants “sweating”).
You can also consider keeping your plants in rooms that are naturally more humid, like the kitchen, laundry room, or bathrooms (although admittedly, we understand if you don’t want your plants in the bathroom!).
Lightly misting your plants with room-temperature water can encourage humidity. If you go this route, note that you’ll probably have to do it frequently because once that water evaporates, the humidity goes back to what it was originally.
You can place smaller plants inside glass domes, which creates humidity — similar to a greenhouse! Just be sure to give them a little airflow for a few hours every day. And lastly, you can also place your plants on top of trays filled with gravel/pebbles and water. Note that this will only target the plant(s) placed directly on top.
Use Your Food Scraps to Make Homemade Fertilizer
You have an interest in Mother Nature, so we’re going to assume you care about protecting her! In America, we waste 80 million tons of food every year. Instead of ending up in our bellies, it goes to landfills. Why not put some of that to good use?
Banana peels, green tea, water from cooking, coffee grounds, eggshells, and rice water are just a few examples of food items you might be tossing that you could instead use for plant fertilizer.
Of course, do your homework to ensure that a specific plant likes that item — and how to prepare it. Sometimes, it’s as easy as cleaning and crushing the food into very small pieces or even a powder.
The point, however, is that before you go to toss those eggshells after your morning scramble, consider if there’s a way they can help your indoor plants grow. It’s a win-win: You’re reducing waste and also taking your plant mom duties seriously.
Invest in Aesthetic Tools
You can make plant maintenance more fun by using tools and supplies that you enjoy looking at. Swap your standard terracotta pot for something like this (available on Amazon):
Help them stay hydrated with this rainbow gradient self-watering system:
We are, after all, talking about the plant mom aesthetic, so your tools and supplies should reflect your personality and help to make your house a home.
Nurturing your plants shouldn’t feel like a chore. It should be a hobby that brings you joy! Create a healthy environment for your indoor plants by keeping the air clean with a purifier and managing the humidity. Repurpose food waste into fertilizer. And create the plant mom aesthetic of your dreams.
Not only will your plants thrive like champions, but you will feel better mentally, emotionally, and even physically.