Plants are Complicated—But There’s One Easy Thing You Can Do That Every Houseplant Loves

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If there was one single formula for taking care of every plant we bring home, plant parent life would be so much easier. Instead, we have some plants that prefer shallow pots, some that like to dry between waterings (at least in certain seasons), and others that seem to thrive on neglect.

And it doesn’t seem fair, because as Courtney Carver wisely put it on Instagram: Plants in the wild seem to thrive with whatever Mother Nature throws at them, while houseplants think to themselves, “you watered me on Sunday versus Saturday so now I must die.”

There is one thing every plant loves, though. And this weekend, we’ll take care of that universally helpful, little-known plant care task.

I first learned of aerating plants when I stumbled across the utterly mesmerizing time-lapse videos of House Plant Journal‘s Darryl Cheng. I saw his plant aeration video and was happy to learn something completely new about plant care.

It makes so much sense. In Darryl’s own words: “You water your plants because it doesn’t rain inside your house. You should therefore aerate the soil occasionally because there are no worms inside your house plant soil. Soil structure matters!”

1. Get a chopstick or stick of similar size.
2. Poke the chopstick deep into the soil a few times. Don’t worry if you snap a few roots. They’ll grow back and the benefits of aeration far outweigh the detriment of a few broken roots.
3. Water your plant. Listen for a crackling sound as water travels through your plant’s soil. This means good aeration.
4. Repeat every few times you water your plants.

If you’re finding it tough to poke the chopstick into your plant’s soil, that’s actually a sign that plant needs aeration the most. Dry, compacted soil makes it hard for water to reach the roots, so push harder and get that moisture flowing!

You can catch up with weekend projects right here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.