How to Care for Your Plants (and Why You Should Get Them)

I’ve been converted to a true plant lady. What started as just a few succulents has expanded to a collection across my whole apartment, and now I’m attempting to grow a small herb garden and hoping to get a tree soon too!

Plant Care is Self Care

Plants were my first foray into caring for something other than myself. I got the easiest ones (re: hardest to kill) because at the time I wasn’t doing so great at even taking care of myself. I was taking small steps in the right direction for sustainable changes - eating healthier, drinking less, watching less tv, exercising more - but I still had a long way to go. I was worried that how I treated myself would translate into how well I took care of my new plant babies, and you know what? The opposite happened. Having the routine task of watering my succulents once per week created a sense of responsibility that infiltrated my own self care. As I cared for my plants, I began to learn to care for myself better. Little by little, I was able to make the smallest changes that added together and transformed how I take care of and feel about myself.

Nurturing something other than yourself - whether it be plants, a pet, or a relationship - gives you a purpose. It gives you a sense of accomplishment, empathy for something outside of yourself, and most profoundly, it shows you how to better care for yourself.

You might feel overwhelmed by the idea of owning your first plant, just like I was. If you’ve never owned a pet or had anything to care for besides yourself, even something as seemingly simple as a plant is a huge step. Let’s talk about a few of the basics of plant care and how it directly correlates to our own self care needs:

A Good Foundation

Basic plant care requires two key things: water and light.

Watering and caring for your plants is a great weekly ritual to create. I like to pop on some fun, energetic music and dance around my apartment while I water them - it makes it a joyful, uplifting routine that I look forward to every week. Be sure to research the specific plants you have - some may need watering more or less often, but generally once a week is a good rule for most plants.

Positioning your plants in your home is also important. Different plants need varying levels of sunlight - some need bright, direct sunlight and will thrive on a windowsill, while others prefer lower light and indirect sunlight and will do better near but not directly in line of your windows.

Proper Nutrition

Plants require proper nutrition to grow, just like we do. Giving them fresh soil once in a while is a great way to refresh the nutrients they’re receiving as well as check on the health of your plant. I highly recommend incorporating composted soil because not only does it provide a slow release of nutrition but it is also good for retaining moisture to properly hydrate your plant and it naturally reduces the risk of diseases and pests.

Just as it’s important to feed ourselves the right foods that provide us the nutrients we need to be healthy and energized, our plants need proper nutrition through healthy soil. Plants glean a lot of nutrition from the soil, but you can also give them an extra nutrition boost through composted soil or compost tea. I create my own compost soil and tea, as “rot” is one of my five R’s of green living. Another crafty and eco-friendly way to boost your plant’s nutrition is to save any water that you use to boil, cook, or steam vegetables. Let it cool and then use that to water your plants.

Room to Grow

Plants generally need to be repotted every year or so when they grow too large for their current container. Again, this is an amazing analogy for our own growth. We grow physically out of clothes and need to buy new ones, but we also grow out of habits, identities, and spaces. We need to “repot” ourselves to fit our new growth. Plants need space to continue growing and thriving, so it’s important to check on your plant’s growth so you know when it’s ready for a bigger pot.

Don’t get too anxious if your plant starts shedding leaves - it doesn’t necessarily mean that your plant is sick or dying. In fact it can mean the opposite - when plants grow, their old leaves die to make room. Out with the old and in with the new. I was so grateful to learn this from @plantkween whom I recommend any plant parent give a follow- not just for the amazing plant care tips but also the abundant and joyful vibes! They recently released a great IGTV video all about their favorite ingredients for the perfect soil blend (including composted soil!).

Support to Foster Resilience

In addition to proper physical nutrition, we require proper emotional nutrition. Having supportive relationships and community is so important for us as naturally relationally-centered creatures. In the same way, plants respond to love and commitment too. Talking to your plants can actually make them grow faster just as talking nicely to ourselves is key to growth and resilience. 

Plants are amazing in their determination to keep growing. My time as a plant mom has been far from perfect. Not all plants have made it through alive. Sometimes it takes some experimenting to figure out the right balance of water and light. While it’s true I’ve lost a few, I’ve also brought some back from dire circumstances where I was sure they were goners. I have this one cactus that’s been with me since the beginning, but he almost didn’t make it due to some overzealous watering that led to some severe rot at the base of his trunk. He still has a big scar, but now he’s doing better than ever! He’s even sprouted 4 arms since I started adding the compost tea (Sky High Plant Food) to my watering routine.

Witnessing my plants resilience has been inspiring in my own will to continue forward no matter what happens. Because life is uncertain and sometimes things just happen, just a couple of weeks ago one of my beautiful babies was knocked over by a strong gust of wind, breaking its pot and snapping off part of it’s stem. I’ve repotted it now and am nursing it back to health. It continues to lose leaves, but I’m not giving up hope yet. I put the broken limb in water (to propagate it) - it’s just started to sprout some roots. 

Plants have a lot to teach us about living, growing and being resilient.