A hobby is something you do on your own time for fun. A hobby can be anything that you are interested in doing. Particularly, something enjoyable and is worthwhile to do.
As the saying goes, we work to live rather than live to work. And, in addition to work and personal responsibilities, we require time for ourselves.
For instance, time for ourselves to relax, breathe and re-energize. This is where a good hobby comes in.
So, if you are on the lookout for a good hobby to start, why not look into gardening?
Why gardening?
Gardening, in its most basic form, is the practice of growing and caring for your own plants. As a hobby, your reward is to see your plants grow, thrive, and propagate.
In addition, gardening can be done indoors or outdoors. With creativity, you can also have a garden even with limited space.
On the whole, it is the satisfaction that we get each time we harvest or see a bud or a flower or just seeing our plants grow that makes gardening a great hobby.
Other benefits
Additionally, gardening contributes to cleaner air. Even if only in a minor way, having your own personal air cleaner at home is definitely something.
Gardening as a hobby is also beneficial to one’s mental health. It focuses your attention on the activity, overall blocking the flow of negative thoughts.
Another benefit you can get from gardening is physical exertion. It may not count as weight training but it helps keep you active. Compared to being a couch potato, all that potting, repotting, shoveling, and watering, etc. can certainly burn some calories.
What you will develop
Some other noteworthy benefits of gardening are the skills and values that we develop in engaging with the hobby.
Patience
The first value on the list is Patience. And I can most definitely attest to this. Having grown some vegetables myself, I learned that plants don’t grow and bear fruit overnight. Or in a week. It takes time. Lots of it.
But it’s the anticipation that makes it even more special. And in that waiting period, you still get to learn other values.
Responsibility
This brings us to the second value, which is responsibility. Growing plants necessitates your time and attention. Every single day. You will discover that how you treat them determines their survival.
Creativity
The third thing you can develop from gardening is creativity. Given an indoor or outdoor space that you can turn into your garden, the design will ultimately depend on you.
You can let your imagination run wild when designing your garden. After all, it’s your space.
Planning and organizing
Fourth, gardening will also teach you how to plan and organize. Along with the design of your garden, you also need to plan when is the right time to plant. Or where you’ll plant the seeds to take full advantage of the sun or shade.
Hard work
Finally, with gardening, you learn the value of hard work. Gardening does not mean simply tossing seeds into the ground and waiting for them to sprout.
Gardening is a labor of love for many people. And a lot of hard work is required when you plant.
For example, you must inspect the soil before planting the seeds. After planting, you must water them and check on them on a regular basis and so on.
The foregoing are just some of the life skills and values you will learn from gardening as a hobby.
Before you get down and dirty though, you must first decide what you will grow in your garden. There are a lot of plants you can choose from such as a variety of flowers, vegetables, herbs, or you can also go for cacti and succulents.
Cactus and Succulents
In the past, I’m one of many people who can’t tell the difference between a cactus and a succulent. Despite the fact that they are more visually appealing and, dare I say, easier to care for? The truth is that I can’t tell them apart.
Growing up, I thought plants that appear as cacti are, of course, cactus. It’s only in my adult life that I learned about succulents.
What’s the difference
If we go by the book, we can say that ALL cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti. Sounds more confusing right?
Succulents
So to simplify, let us just say that, based on the name, succulents are plants that can hold water. The plants store water in their leaves, roots, or stems.
Cactus
With that description, the cactus does fall into the category of succulents. What differentiates the cactus from the other type of succulents are the following:
- A cactus has few or no leaves at all
- A cactus has distinguishable buds or areoles on its body. The areoles are the fluffy and cotton-like lumps where the spines grow out
- A cactus has a tough, thick skin
Therefore if the plant you bought does not have the above characteristics, then most certainly it is a succulent but not a cactus.
For clarity, the term succulent moving forward in this article shall mean both cacti and succulent.
Gardening terminologies
Before we get started on our succulent garden, let’s go over some terms that we might come across in this hobby.
Garden terms
Succulent Potting soil– Potting soil or a potting mix for succulents that use materials that are meant to drain water quickly.
While the soil for herbs allows the flow of water and nutrients, the succulent soil mix should allow for the immediate exit of moisture.
Fertilizer– these are synthetic or organic materials added to the soil for nutrients.
Full sun– means sun exposure for six to eight hours. This is the amount of light needed by succulents to thrive.
Plant terms
Hardy Succulent– These are succulents that can withstand temperatures below zero.
Soft Succulent– Soft succulents, unlike hardy succulents, cannot withstand prolonged freezing temperatures.
Hardiness zone– is the industry standard for determining which plants are most likely to thrive in a given location based on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Propagation– The process of producing or growing more plants using either cutting, leaves, or seeds.
Dormancy– A plant phase where it is alive but not actively growing. This phase usually occurs during a drought, or in extreme heat or cold.
Etiolate– Plants that have a long stem, are pale, and sickly due to lack of light or overcrowding.
Aerial root– Roots that grow on the stem of the plant rather than in the soil. The common cause of these roots, which usually appear pink or white, is due to insufficient water or humid temperature.
Corking– The change in color or texture of the plant starting from the base. To distinguish it from rotting, corking is a natural aging process while rotting is caused by disease.
Areole– One of the distinguishing characteristics of a cactus. These are small light- to dark-colored bumps that are hairy and/or spiny and from which the flowers and spines emerge.
Variegated– A natural mutation that happens in plants. The mutation causes white stripes or multiple colors to appear on the leaves, stem, or flower.
Monocarpic– Base on the term “mono”, this type of succulents flower only once, and then die.
Crest– Another natural mutation that causes the plant to have several growing points rather than a single one.
How to start
Now, don’t let the terminologies for gardening and succulents stop you from pursuing gardening as a hobby.
You already made the right choice by starting with succulents. Why? Because succulents are low-maintenance plants that are easy to grow and care for. They are also perfect to grow indoors because of the added aesthetic they provide.
Furthermore, there are numerous succulent varieties to choose from, which will undoubtedly stimulate your creative juices.
However, as this is our first foray with growing succulents, we need to tone down and start small.
So now we are ready to start.
Plan and prepare
Plan out where you will start your garden. Whether you are planning to have them indoors or outdoors, then map out where you are going to place them.
Like we said previously, succulents need full sun, that is six to eight hours of light exposure. For optimal growth, place them where they can benefit from sunlight for the amount of time required.
Research
Once you have mapped out where you would like to place your garden. We will now research the succulents to grow in our indoor or outdoor garden that is suitable for beginners.
The succulents listed below are some of the most popular varieties you can start with in your home garden.
Aloe Vera
The aloe vera plant looks like thick green spikes forming a circle. Widely known for their healing and cooling effect on the skin, aloe vera are low-maintenance plants that thrive well indoors.
They can propagate quickly and overcrowd their container just as fast. However, it’s also easy to divide them up and transfer them to another pot.
A word of caution though, if you have kids or pets, aloe vera is not a good option. Aside from the sharp spikes on the succulent leaves, the plant’s outer layer is also highly toxic when ingested.
Snake plant
The snake plant is characterized by its long stemless leaves shaped like a sword. Same with the aloe vera plant, snake plants are also easy to take for and propagate. They can tolerate neglect and will not hold it against you.
Additionally, snake plants have the ability to cleanse the air inside your home. And for feng-shui experts, consider the succulent as a lucky plant.
However, if you have kids or pets, it may not be so lucky at all. Because similar to the aloe vera plant, these succulents are also toxic to pets when ingested and will cause vomiting and nausea. Better look into other types of succulents.
The good thing is, there are plenty of them to choose from.
Christmas Cactus
This plant got its name because it blooms late in the year around November to mid-February. This differentiates it from its cousin, the Thanksgiving cactus which flowers in early October until late December.
The stem of the Christmas cactus is segmented and these segments are flat and spherical in shape. Its blooms hang down, facing the direction of the ground.
In contrast to the aloe vera and snake plant, the Christmas cactus requires a little more water to thrive. Once buds start to form, apply fertilizer every two weeks.
The Christmas cactus however compensates for the water and fertilizer by being safe for children or pets.
Burro’s tail
Also known as donkey’s tail, this succulent is slow-growing and can take years for it to mature. The plant produces long stems, thus the tail in the name, with small fleshy leaves that look plaited.
The advisable place for this succulent is in hanging baskets or a table where their “tail” can hang freely.
As with the Christmas cactus, this succulent is also safe for humans and pets.
Zebra Haworthia
Another type of succulent that is safe for kids and pets. It is also a slow-growing succulent that, along with many succulents, requires good drainage and lots of sunshine.
The succulent got its name from its distinguishing zebra-like tubercles that resemble warts forming a line across its fleshy leaves. The leaves form a whorl and form clumps, so you may have more of these succulents in a single pot.
This succulent can also thrive despite being neglected which makes it a good choice for beginners.
Garden basics
The next step is to prepare the basic tools you will need for your garden.
Pots and soil
For outdoor gardens, make sure that the pot you will use have proper draining holes in them. As mentioned, we want to avoid root rot so your pot should easily drain out moisture immediately.
For an indoor cactus and succulent garden, better use succulent potting mix. There available soil mix for succulents you can purchase, but you may want to add more perlite or pumice.
The reason for adding these materials is to ensure that the soil is coarse enough to allow moisture to evaporate.
Fertilizer
Even low-maintenance plants such as succulents can benefit from fertilizers every once in a while. And, as with water, fertilizers should be applied sparingly. Pro gardeners advise applying fertilizer once in spring and then again in fall.
Also, make sure that the fertilizer you use is diluted about half its strength. And that it should be applied on the soil around the succulent and directly on it.
Watering
Aside from aesthetics, the best reason to plant succulents in your garden is for water efficiency. You do not have to water them daily.
What’s more, you don’t have to feel guilty if you forget to water them for a month. Although, in the growing stage, you have to water your succulents once a week. Once they’ve grown though, your succulents can survive if you water them once or twice a month.
Pros suggest watering your succulents using the “soak and dry” method. That is, when you water them, use enough water to soak through the container. You will know it’s enough when you see water seeping through the drainage of the pot.
After that, wait for the soil to completely dry out before watering again.
Watering can
Water on the leaves of succulents left too long will cause the leaves to rot. Especially with the indoor succulent garden because excess water on the leaves tends to evaporate longer. And certainly, we do not want our succulents to succumb to rot.
So, a watering can a small spout helps in directing the water to the soil around the plant. Avoiding water to get onto the leaves of the succulents.
Summary
In summary, we learned that gardening is a great hobby that offers a lot of benefits and value development. We also learned that planning and preparation, research, and knowing the garden basics will easily get you into the hobby.
Lastly, succulents are excellent plants for beginners. Because not only are they attractive but they are also low-maintenance.
So, what do you think about cacti and succulent gardening as a hobby? Please share them in the comments below.
Outside links:
Succulent glossary
Cactus and Succulent Care for Beginners
How to care for succulents
What are the safest succulents for kids and pets
How to water succulent plants
Thank you, this is super useful! Now I just need to buy a cactus 😅