We often hear that having plants indoors influences our mood and behaviour, helping reduce stress and increase creativity and wellbeing.

The truth is that plants are largely responsible for purifying the air in our atmosphere. But does simply having plants at home mean we are sustainable people?

In this article I am going to share my point of view on the subject.

First, let us demystify the term sustainability and what being sustainable actually means.

Everybody knows the word sustainability, but it is still a concept that is sometimes misunderstood.

It is common to associate the term with the environment and with controlling pollution and, although that association does exist, the term is much broader and more important than that.

Sustainability is a concept tied to sustainable development, focused on the capacity of a society or system to sustain itself. Meaning that in meeting our needs, we do not compromise the needs of future generations.

The approach has to take in three areas: environmental/ecological, economic and social.

So to be more sustainable people, we have to choose a set of daily actions and habits that contribute to sustaining all of those resources.

The sustainability discussed in this article is the environmental kind, but if you want to know more about the subject and the other strands, I would encourage you to read my article on what sustainability is.

On the basis of that introduction, we can already conclude that simply having plants at home does not make us more sustainable.

It is all the other actions and habits we can put in place, from the moment we buy or plant the plant onwards, that make us sustainable people.

Here are 3 things that will help you be more sustainable with your plants:

1. Buy plants from sustainable suppliers

Like other products, plants carry an ecological footprint too, absorbing large quantities of compost, fertiliser, water and more. They also absorb greenhouse gases through photosynthesis.

So if you are going to buy a plant, it is on you to buy from suppliers or growers with an ecological conscience.

When we choose to be more conscious in what we do, it matters that we carry that through into everything around us. So where plants are concerned, that should show up in where we buy the plants and where we buy the products to look after them.

2. Use organic fertilisers

How we look after the plants in our home says a great deal about sustainability.

Making natural fertilisers keeps the plants happy and is an excellent way of being more conscious. There are all sorts of fertiliser recipes, and you can use food scraps to make them.

3. Conscious watering

To avoid wasting water, it is worth paying attention to how you water your plants.

There are a few ways to water more efficiently and save water, such as:

  • Use rainwater, or the water you washed vegetables in;
  • Catch the cold water that runs off before the hot water arrives in the shower;
  • Use a watering can rather than a hose: it helps you control how much water your plant needs, avoiding waste and overwatering;
  • Watering by immersion: recommended in hotter periods, just take a bucket of water, dip your plants in it, and keep the water for further watering;
  • Do not water during the hottest hours of the day;
  • Water the base of the plants more often, rather than the leaves.

Having established that having plants at home does not make us more sustainable, we can get a sense of the steps to take towards more conscious choices.

I hope this article helps you look after your plants more responsibly.