How to Grow and Maintain a Cactus Garden

Cactus plants can be found world-wide either grown indoors such as the "Christmas Cactus" or with other non-related garden plants in attractive outdoor settings. Almost every garden center in North America stocks one cactus species in particular known as the Prickly Pear Cactus. But before your curiosity gets the best of you, there are important points to consider (no pun intended!) before adopting this plant to your own environment whether it be indoors in a pot or grown in the garden outdoors.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• gardening gloves
• garden shovel
• soil with good drainage
• sunny location

1. 
    
   This grove of Prickly Pear Cacti grow wild in Central Texas region known as the Hill Country

   Research the needs of the particular cactus species that interests you.
   Prickly pear are very prolific, require periodic maintenance, but can adapt very easy in temperate climates; indeed they can be found throughout most of the Western Pacific, Southern, and Middle-Atlantic States including the beach areas of North and South Carolina.

2. virtually all landscaping that includes the cactus garden needs to have Southern and Western Exposure and have excellent drainage.

3. Prepare the area first by mixing the soil with sand and other rocks and gravel, then covering with landscape fabric, consult with local landscapers on effective but safe treatments of the soil for erradication of grubs and other dangers to plants with long root systems.

4. For areas far-removed from desert or arid regions, concentrate on species that are more of the fleshy-leaf, family of succulents rather than the varieties consisting of entirely long-spined species. The exception is the prickly pear cactus which is capable of tolerating wide fluctuations in temperature and moisture content. These also produce beautiful waxy yellow or red flowers that can really dazzle a carefully planned landscaping project.

5. In northern regions, consider the wide varieties of cactus plants that can be grown as container plants in Southern-exposed windows. Be prepared to prune back the prickly pear cactus as they will double their pad size and growth in a matter of several months and easily overwhelm most container gardens unless they are very small.

Tips & Warnings

• handle cactus with gardening gloves even if working near the plant-- An accidental brushing is not fun to deal with in spine removal!
• Miniature spines are often not considered a big deal by the misinformed! Heed advice or learn from experience - the small spines of the prickly pear will easily irritate the skin and have to be removed working with a magnifying glass and tweezers! Always handle this plant with gardening gloves.
• Do not overwater or underwater - to water once a week in the growing season for 6-9 months and once a month for the winter months is a good rule of thumb of insuring a healthy disease-free long-lived plant.
• For treatment of mites and a white cottony-appearing insect, dip the ends of a Q-tip cotton swab in alcohol and place around the plant. Outdoor plants can be treated with soapy water spraying in similar manner.

[Desula]

on 1/4/2009 Thanks for the information on growing a Cactus garden.

[simplelife]

on 12/5/2008 Great article! And yes, I found out the hard way that you should always wear gardening gloves to handle a cactus plant. Thanks for the tips.

[smilesatme1]

on 11/9/2008 good info! thanks