How to Build a Cacti Dish Garden

Would you love to have a cacti dish garden, but the ones at the garden center don’t suit your style? You can easily build your own custom-made cacti dish garden. Building a dish garden full of eclectic cacti and succulents is a lot of fun, and it makes a fabulous showpiece in your home.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Several cacti
• Several succulents
• Cactus soil
• A wide, shallow pot
• Newspaper
• Scissors

1. Choose cacti and succulents with a variety of textures, sizes, colors, and shapes. Make sure they are healthy and not starting to shrink at the stem.

2. Fill the container with moistened cactus soil, which you can find at your local garden center. Moisten it only to the point where it clumps slightly. The soil should not drip water when squeezed between your hands. That's too wet for cacti.

3. Wrap your cacti in several layers of newspaper that you've cut to fit just around the top of the plant. This will protect you from getting poked.

4. Transplant each cacti and succulent plant into your dish. Remove the newspaper. You can also add decorative stone if you like.

5. Place the cacti dish garden in a sunny spot, near a southern, western or eastern window is the best location.

6. Water your cacti dish garden about once a week, or when the soil feels completely dry when you poke your finger down into the soil. Do not water more often or keep the cacti dish garden constantly moist. Too much water is as bad as too little water!

Tips & Warnings

• You can also keep your cacti garden outside during the summer, but watch that it doesn't get too much water.
• Don't try using regular potting soil, since it won't provide enough drainage for the cacti and succulents to thrive.