I’ve written a lot about food, and food I love, but there are many other things that bring me joy in life. One of which is the ever-so-beautiful succulent plant. What are succulents you ask? Well, succulents are exactly what they’re called – succulent. They are a plant similar to the cactus, and contain water within their leaves. making them “succulent.” I have come to love these succulent plants, or as Blaine would say, am obsessed with them. I have learned, through trial and error how to properly care for these plants and plan to share with you today some of the tips n tricks I have learned.
Tuesday I went to town planting succulents, what with it being Earth Day and all. It seemed very appropriate to get down and dirty with some potting soil and a variety of succulents on a beautiful day like it was. Lately, I’ve had the itch to plant succulents in tea tins and after planting one and posting a picture on Facebook, I received a lot of great feed back on how neat it was. I decided to pant succulents in the rest of the tea tins I had lying around.
Just incase you’d like to try this yourself, I will go through the motion of planting succulents in tea tins and include all the tips n tricks I have learned along the way.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
- Some sort of tin or pot.
- A succulent of your choice. You can find them at almost any home improvement store. I got mine at both Home Depot and a local green house.
- Soil. I also got my soil from Home Depot. The kind you want to look for is a moisture control soil to help very easy drainage. They have soil at Home Depot specifically for succulents and cacti.
- Rocks of some sort. I used small river rocks that I purchased from Home Depot, but you could also go right outside and find some small ones I’m guessing.
- Perlite. This also helps increase drainage for the succulents. (not 100% necessary)
- Sheet Moss.
STEP – BY – STEP HOW TO PLANT YOUR SUCCULENTS
- First place about an inch layer of rocks on the bottom of your tea tin or pot
- Next, mix together a little of the potting soil and the perlite in a bowl.
- Once soil and perlite are mixed, place a small layer over the rocks. You do not need a lot because you will have to use some of the soil attached to the succulent.
- Now it is time to transfer your succulent to your tin or pot. The easiest way to take your succulent out of the temporary pot is to squeeze the sides to loosen up the soil.
- Place the succulent into the tin, gently. I tore off a little of the bottom roots in order to make the succulent fit into the tin. It may not fit in the tin completely, but I then take a gardening tool or you could use a knife or fork to shove the plant down into the tin.
- Once your succulent is nicely situated into the tea tin, take your sheet moss and stuff it into the corners and edges of the tea tin to hide the soil.
- Once finished with the moss, you have now completed your succulent tea tin!
TIPS N TRICKS
WATERING YOUR SUCCULENT:
This is one area where I have learned my lesson with succulents. Succulents are made to survive in dry climates, therefore they do not need a lot of water. How you know when to water them is when the soil is completely dried out. Sometimes this is hard to tell, but I’d say about every other week.
Seasons do matter! When I say to water your succulents every other week, I’m talking about in the spring and summer. These are the months where they are blooming and thriving. Throughout the winter months they rarely need any water at all – roughly every other month. If you’re OVER WATERING, your succulents will be soft and discolored and the leaves yellow and white. If UNDER WATERING, your succulents will stop growing and shed their leaves.
PROVIDING LIGHT FOR YOUR SUCCULENT:
What I have found with my succulents is that if they are not getting adequate light, they will start to reach for the light, creating long stems and spaced out leaves. This is called etiolation or reaching. To prevent this, provide better lighting – preferably a south-facing window, somewhere where they won’t receive too much light and be scorched by the mid day sun. Plain and simple, succulents won’t do will in a room with no windows either.
I hope you found this informational if you have your own succulents or maybe even inspirational and will want to start your own succulent collection. I made quite a few succulent tea tins, so if you’re interested let me know!
MOSTLY.FOOD. 