If you live in an apartment and wish that you had room for more than just one or two houseplants, then you should consider growing succulents. There are many different types and by choosing small plants they can be combined to create a complete miniature garden in a container. Succulents also have the advantage of being easy to grow and needing little maintenance. This article by Suzanne Day which I found on the Dengarden website tells you all you need to know about growing succulents and includes twenty-one great container ideas.
The best thing about succulent gardens is that they require little maintenance and look wonderful with almost no effort. If you?re wondering how to brighten your place up and have a small garden all year round, then creating one of these is ideal.
If you live in a particularly small space, then a garden of cacti and succulents is perfect as you don?t need to buy much gardening equipment and weeding is minimal. A big plus is that you can recycle items from around the house for planters.
Add some plant life both indoors and out and show off your collection in a gorgeous display. Not only are succulents fairly hardy, but care is easy and they?ll live even if you forget to water them from time to time!
General Method For Potting
Use this method to plant your succulent garden. The initial setup takes a little bit of effort, but after that it?s just easy maintenance.
You will need:
A pot with a hole in it
Fresh damp garden soil
Fertiliser (of any kind)
River pebbles, rocks, glass pebbles or gravel
Sand (optional)
Method:
1. Make sure the pot has a hole in the bottom and can drain water away easily. If your pot doesn?t have one, create one. Succulents like well drained soil to prevent stem rot and they don?t require a bowl or plate of water to sit in, unless it is shallow.
2. Fill about 1/3 of the bottom of the pot with pebbles, rocks or gravel, spaced out a bit. I recommend that you use these larger rocks as they help water drain away more easily and protect plant roots from rotting. Next, make the soil mixture…
3. Mix some fertiliser into the soil (instructions about how much and where to put it are usually on the packet). Whether in the form of slow-release capsules on the top of the soil, a bag of blood and bone mixed in with the soil or some other type of fertiliser is up to you. They all work to promote growth, just like plant vitamins!
4. Add sand to the soil. Sand is not essential, but does help to make succulents have a more natural environment. I have successfully grown succulents with and without sand, but with sand is slightly better in terms of assisting drainage and providing a good consistency for the roots.
The soil mixture should be light and fluffy, or crumbly, with lots of oxygen mixed in.
5. Put the soil mixture into the pot, on top of the rock/pebble/gravel formation and make a hole deep enough for your succulent to be planted. The plant should sit about 1cm above where the roots begin.
6. Take the succulent out of its existing container or garden and ?tickle? its roots to stimulate them. A small bit of soil from the previous container can be left on.
7. Plant the succulent in the hole and put the soil around the plant. Pat down somewhat firmly. Add any decorative sand/river pebbles/glass pebbles/rocks if you like, although these aren?t essential, on the top of the soil.
Decorative rocks can be useful in helping control soil erosion through over watering, so if you are a bit keen, use them on top as well as the bottom of the pot.
Pebbles and rocks can also add some great contrasting colours to the design.
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