There’s an odd sense of pride that comes with successfully keeping a plant alive for an extended period of time. Even better if you’ve potted it yourself.
Having been in my current apartment for just over six months, the time had come to add a bit of greenery to my living room.
The problem? I am tragically bad at keeping plants alive. I nearly killed my housemate’s indoor plant when she was on holidays (initially I thought it was fake… then two weeks in when it began to wilt I panicked and over watered it).
The solution? Succulents. They’re very tricky to kill. If you travel a lot these are probably your best bet plant wise as it will be very hard for your housemates to kill them in your absence. Or you could just water them before you head off and see how they do.
I have always liked the look of succulents in cute little pots, but they can be outrageously expensive if you buy them at florists or flower shops.
The good news is you can propagate your own succulents easily, no green thumb required. All you need is a friend, family member or neighbour who will let you take a few cuttings from their own plant (or if you’re really rebellious you could take some from a public park… though I do not condone stealing……….)
First, find the succulent you’ll be taking your cuttings from. Think about the sort of pot you’re going to put it in and make your selection based on size or shape.
Next, take some cuttings of your succulents, leaving at least a 5cm stem. Gather your succulents together and lay them out of direct sunlight for one to two days so the ends dry out. This will help prevent nasties like fungus infiltrating your succulent and killing it.
After a couple of days, when you’re succulents have formed a kind of callus over their ends, it’s time to pot them!
You will need:
Your succulent cuttings
Potting mix
Sand
Some nice pots
A bucket to mix your potting mix and sand
Mix equal parts of soil and sand in a bucket (yes I am aware the above picture makes it seem like there’s more sand. But the soil is underneath it… so don’t you stress.)
Mix it all together like you would a cake mix of some kind, it will be a bit crumbly from the sand, so try to break down any large clumps.
Then it’s as easy as filling your pot with the potting mixture, and putting your succulent in. How simple is that?!
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