
So Succulent | My Guide to Growing Succulents
Succulents are one of my all time favorite plants. I love how you can cut them off stick them in some good quality soil and watch them grow endlessly! The beautiful thing about succulents is that they keep on giving. Once you have a crop going, you can cultivate many, many succulents. I have a nice crop going with my mom since we collected them for my wedding last year and I have been making things with them ever since.
Starting Out
About 2 years ago, my mom and I went on a succulent crusade to make potted live centerpieces for my wedding. I love the aqua colored ones and my in laws happened to have a ton in their yard. We took about 20 from them along with some we bought and now we have over 100! It is quite amazing. When you move them, try to dig up as much of the root system as you can. It’s best to transfer in a pot with some soil in it so the roots don’t dry out if you don’t happen to get to them right away.
Planting
You want to get some good quality soil, at the gardening store is where I get it. For the pots, it is important to make sure there is a hole in the bottom for drainage. This is something my mom has drilled into my head over and over. When we made my wedding centerpieces, we put rocks at the bottom of the pots so that the soil wouldn’t fall through and it would create a nice drainage system. It worked great and I got lots of compliments on my centerpieces!
Once you have everything ready, fill the pot with soil, almost to the top. Get your succulents, I recommend having at least 3-4 for a medium sized pot. Leave some room in between each plant so that they can get bigger and grow into each other and over the side. Once you have placed them, put more dirt around each plant and pat the soil down in a circle around the plant. Push it down and add more soil. Do this until you feel the soil has really compacted. Once you water it, the whole thing will shrink down into the pot and you will be happy you put so much soil in. I like my plants at the top and spilling over the planter. Once you are happy with the way it looks, give it a good water.
Placement + Care
Put your plant in a location where it will get plenty of sun but not all day direct sun. I have a succulent pot inside on my mantle, where there is skylight right overhead. It loves that lighting. I also have succulents planted in my garden outside where they get medium sun throughout the day. Water once a week or if really hot every few days. They like sun and they will grow like crazy as soon as you forget about them. Low-maintenance, low-cost, and gorgeous! I created the planter pictured below a few years ago and it has exploded recently. I love how all the babies look!
The planter pictured below was made out of leftover succulents from my wedding. Pretty great, right?!
A great place to buy succulents and cacti is The Cactus Jungle in Berkeley. Check it out! https://www.cactusjungle.com/
I hope this was helpful! I love succulents and I love spreading the knowledge. Enjoy.
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