Creating Succulent Mini Gardens- These are fun and super easy to do!
Collect: various kinds of succulent plants. Look for ones that have ‘hardy’ or ‘semper virens’ (always green) on their name tags. Not usually the ones sold INSIDE the store. Chopsticks are handy tools for planting succulents. Containers- can be almost anything that can hold soil and not fall apart when wet. Old shoes last longer if their sides are preserved with something. A drainage hole is helpful but, not essential. I really like to use garage sale finds to plant in, often coffee mugs and teacups. Optional; if the container doesn’t have a drainage hole you can put a layer of pebbles or something similar on the bottom. Ready to plant- the cool thing about succulents is that they easily form roots where there were none before. Fill your container with moistened potting soil. Then: 1. Take pinchings (or cuttings) of 1-2inches in length from your succulents (the hens are planted whole). 2. Remove by pinching, with your thumb and index finger, leaves from the bottom inch or so of your cutting. 3. With a chopstick, make a hole in your soil, about one inch deep, and put a cutting in it. Then press the soil up close to the stem of the cutting.
Repeat #1-3 until you are pleased with the look of your mini garden. It’s ok to leave a little space between plants for growth. Water gently and place outside in at least part-sun, well-lit office or sunny window. If your container has no drainage hole there’s a chance it could get overwatered, simply turn it over on its side to drain the excess water. Afterwards put it in a sunny place and go easy on the water for a few days.