Add Life to any room and improve your in-home air quality with live plants.
Have you wanted to join the many who have taken up indoor plant care during the pandemic?
Are you worried about keeping your plants alive when you return to travel?
Here are my top ten essentials for keeping my plants alive while out of town.
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. This means that I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
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Top 10 Essentials:
Concerned about choosing the right plant?
Check out one of these articles for hard-to-kill & low maintenance plants & herbs:
My Plants:
Indoor: Monstera & a Snake Plant Hybrid
Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, Mint, Oregano, Basil
Skip most of the suggestions below and buy a live plant on Amazon that already comes in a beautiful planter.
I almost bought this Monstera plant by Costa Farms (affiliate link) on Amazon before buying one at Trader Joe's.
The prices are fair, and it's less of a mess because they already include the planter. In addition, these plants have great reviews, which is surprising considering the logistics of careful shipping necessary.
Shop Costa Farms (affiliate link) on Amazon
Herb Starter Kits
Half of the herbs I currently have been purchased by Trader Joe's and the other half have been grown by seeds. However, if you want to buy everything together, here are some great options with excellent ratings.
Starting with Seeds
The seeds I bought are no longer available, so here are some other great alternatives with excellent ratings.
Self-Watering Planter
I first started with cooking herbs about 16 months ago with the help of Trader Joe's.
Self-Watering planters are a traveler's best friend.
They store water at the bottom of the planter without drenching the soil. After the roots grow to the bottom of the planter, you won't have to water the plants as often.
I started with two sets of these, these smaller 4 inch modern white self-watering plant pots by T4U (affiliate links) from Amazon.
However, the herbs quickly outgrew these containers, so I upgraded to these 5.5 Inch pots after a few months, also by T4U (affiliate links).
Both times I scoured Amazon to find the best deal (price per item) without sacrificing quality. I recommend looking at the used options (If any) for a lower price if on a tighter budget.
For Herbs:
I don't own this one, but check how cute it is! Unfortunately, it's not self-watering, but it still has thousands of five-star reviews.
For Larger House Plants:
These are two great options. I bought the Gardenix (affiliate link) for a large Basil plant that I ended up selling to keep my herbs relatively the same size.
I own two of these pots from Santino in 6.7 inches and 8.8 inches (affiliate links). Santino offers sizes from 5 to 11 inches for this specific pot. Santino also offers
Something else to consider is placing perlite or volcanic rocks at the bottom of your planter. For example, the Santino planter below includes some perlite to help aerate the soil.
Gardenix Decor Store (affiliate link)
Santino Store (affiliate link)
Mid-Century Modern Planters
If you don't need a "self-watering planter" and can spend a penny more, here are some gorgeous mid-century modern options below with great reviews:
Shop OMYSA on Amazon (affiliate link)
Shop Amazon Brand - Rivet (affiliate link)
And More
Watering Can
I'm obsessed with this green, affordable, and modern watering-can from WhaleLife (affiliate link) I bought in 2020. It's beautiful, and I don't mind it being displayed when it's not under the kitchen sink. In addition, the watering can is offered in multiple color options, including blue, black, and red.
Potting Mix
I just finished off this potting mix by Miracle Grow, specifically designed to be less prone to gnats.
Pest Control
In April, I had a temporary issue with gnats on my herbs.
I used these yellow sticky traps (affiliate link), which were helpful but not a long-term solution.
If I could only recommend one item for this problem, I recommend Neem Oil by Bonide (affiliate link).
Plant Food
I first tried these food spikes since they were an excellent price for 50 spikes with thousands of five-star reviews. However, I'm not sure what I did wrong... but the spikes started to mold and ended up killing my rosemary plant. The company kindly refunded my purchase.
Jobe's Organics also offers herb plant food in a non-spike form, which I have not yet tried.
I've been using this Plant Food by Miracle Grow (affiliate link) for almost a year, and it has been working great. They also offer this more Organic option I've been eager to try next.
Leaf Shine
Herb Scissors
Herb Name Labels
I wish I had chosen a better eco-friendly option for my Plant Tags. However, the Prudence brand listed below is supposedly a better eco-friendly alternative to the ones I bought.
I ended up buying spice labels after not being satisfied with my handwriting and a Sharpie.
Labeling the herbs also helps your houseplants.
Teach them how to water, use, harvest your herbs correctly to extend the life of your herbs.
It's also important to know which herbs are safe or toxic to your furry friends.
How-To Plant Care Books
The Cook's Herb Garden Book
This book (affiliate link)is a brilliant option to keep on hand when you're in the kitchen with questions. I bought it last April 2021.
High Rated Books on Indoor Plant Care:
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