So, you’ve got your very own slice of nature in your apartment and its green, leafy goodness is sprucing up your space like never before. Congrats!
Caring for houseplants has always been a common hobby among apartment dwellers, but the global pandemic and the lockdown of 2020 gave rise to a surge in popularity of houseplants that went through the roof. More people were spending time indoors, more people were getting bored and more people needed to find ways to beautify their indoor space.
If, like me, your apartment just keeps getting greener and greener, then having a handy list of resources to reference is a must for all #PlantParents. Check out our list of helpful tips, useful tricks, educational materials and more for caring for your indoor plant.
What you need to know about having indoor plants
Houseplants can make us happier
Greenery has a way of making us feel happier, more relaxed and more productive.
That’s not just an opinion, either. A study done over two months showed that having greenery in an office workspace boosted concentration, satisfaction and productivity by up to 15%, and that the plants helped employees feel more connected to and aware of their environment.
The happier and more relaxed we are, the better our bodies feel; and the better our bodies feel, the happier and more relaxed we are. It’s a cycle that, once started, can sustain us for long periods of time — all it takes are some plants!
You can make DIY natural fertilizers for your plant
Different indoor plants require different levels of light, water and fertilization to keep them healthy and thriving. And, when it comes to finding the right plant food, there’s certainly plenty to choose from.
Some plants require more potassium and calcium, others might need higher levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Whatever your plant is and what it needs, you can easily introduce those vital nutrients through some everyday food scraps like coffee grounds, egg shells, green tea leaves and banana peels.
Indoor palms don’t require a super green thumb!
Indoor palms have a slight reputation of being tricky to manage and hard to maintain. And to an extent, that may be true.
The trick to caring for a palm is to know what kind of palm you have and the specific environment it needs to survive. Once you know what you’re working with, you can cater to that palm’s humidity, water, light and soil requirements, and you’ll have a thriving indoor palm in no time!
Keep plants alive while you're away from home
Don’t let all your hard plant-care work fly out the window when you leave on a trip or extended vacation, as there’s nothing quite as discouraging as walking back through your door to a collection of sad, dry, crumbling plants.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to keep your plants happy and healthy while you’re gone, aside from having to beg your neighbor to care for them.
Use DIY self-watering systems to keep soil moist, or make a mini greenhouse to create a tiny water cycle just like in the great outdoors. Air circulation keeps the plants fresh and clean, and the right A/C temperature is key to giving your plants what they need to avoid any shock.
There are plants for dark apartments
No windows? No problem!
Plenty of houseplants are well-suited to less-than-ideal amounts of light, like the snake plant, peace lily, parlor palm, ZZ plant, pothos and more!
You can also use mirrors or special grow light bulbs to introduce a little more light if you need to, so don't let your dark apartment get in the way of your green-thumb goals!
You can grow herbs indoors, too!
Indoor plants can be useful as heck in addition to being aesthetically pleasing.
Constructing an indoor herb garden can be as easy as plant, water, grow and enjoy, though they generally require a bit more hands-on care than a succulent or pothos. Cilantro and mint are two great herbs that grow wonderfully indoors, plus they are easy to care for and produce many harvests in their lifetimes, making them well worth the work.
You’ll need to prepare your plants for winter
Even in a temperature-controlled apartment, the winter season can wreak havoc on your indoor plants if you don’t take appropriate measures on time.
Most plants tend to go into a hibernation phase during the winter months, as there is less light to absorb and, therefore, less a plant can do for itself to grow. Plants will shut down any growing functions and settle into survival mode, using what little energy it gets to run any vital systems. They don’t die, per se, but they won’t grow.
Usually, this means laying off the plant food and scaling back watering. Keep plants away from drafty windows and cold areas, and move them around to get better light if you need to.
Then, when you see new growth start popping up in the spring, you can get back to your regular watering and fertilizing schedule. Easy peasy!
Whatever plants you have and whatever level of experience you’ve acquired, these plant hacks and tips will make caring for indoor plants so much easier and more convenient. You’ll be a pro in no time!
Enjoy!
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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/Pexels
Colleen Ford is a South African who now lives on Oahu in Hawai'i. She loves to travel, camp, spearfish and hike. She's also part of a super cool canoe club and is pretty decent at it. Colleen enjoys Star Wars and also not being cold ever.
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