Bloomed After 4 Years

My friend, Ate Rose, gave me a bunch of cacti and succulents 4 years ago. She gave me some tips how to care for them and I watched videos how best to care for them. She told me to re-pot them, so that's what I did 4 years ago. 

There were two gymnocalycium saglionis originally and I think I gave one to my Mom a week after I re-potted them. The other one that was left with me grew and I didn't even bother re-potting it. I would just give it some fertilizer when I remembered it. 

Gave some to my Mom :)

A month ago, I gave all the plants in the pocket garden some rice water with orange peels and then let Miggy do the watering the cacti and succulents weekly. I checked the plants early this month and was surprised to see something coming out of the gymnocalycium saglionis. My friend from Cebu pointed out that it was a flower. 

Oh! I didn't know that this particular cacti can produce flowers. I ignored the cacti as usual (it doesn't like that much attention) and told Miggy the other day to check if it already bloomed. He sent a photo to me and it looked like it was about to bloom. 

I checked the next day and was surprised to see it had bloomed! It took 4 years! I guess randomly giving it some diluted fermented rice water with orange peels encouraged it to bloom. My friend also said to put it under bright light the whole day. It gets morning sun and afternoon sun, so I guess it's just on the right spot. 

I'm really happy about this achievement because TBH I failed a lot on cacti and succculents. I usually overwater them, but I've managed to correct that and here we are today, haha. 

How's your garden?

#BeKind #StaySafe

What Happens When You Ignore Your Cacti

I got very busy with other plants and it's been almost a year since I properly tended to my cacti. It started with just a few pieces Ate Rose gave me back in July 2022. They looked like this by August 2023 -

And how they looked in November 2024 -

I re-pot them once a year. I moved them to a sunnier spot almost a year ago and water them once a week. One thing about cacti and succulents is they're very low maintenance. They're best left alone. Just top it up with some perlite once a quarter and they'll be fine. 

I was so busy re-potting Mom's other plants, so this is what happened in a year -

Looks like this will be my year-end project!

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My Peanut Cactus

It's the time of the year to re-organize our garden and where I do my gardening. The cats are also unhappy about the mess, haha. The opportunity allowed me to see my cacti and succulents up close.

I was surprised to see my peanut cactus riddled with pups! It's so cute! I re-potted it a few months ago and it happily grew on it's own. I have idea what encouraged it to produce pups. I probably need to research on whether I need to do something with it. Maybe transfer it to a bigger pot?

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Garden Notes: Cactus and Succulent Soil, Calamansi Soil, Avocado Soil

I have different kinds of plants and I can't find the notebook where I used to write down notes for my plants. I realized I should have just noted it here in my blog. That's what I do anyway when I need to refresh my memory. It's also why I make cooking videos at "Recipes for My Son". 

It's been hard to keep track of the needs of my plants. There's soil needs, fertilizer, pesticide, watering etc. So I thought I should write down what I use. It's easier to find it here than my (currently) missing notebook. Miggy can also put it to good use one day when he becomes a plantito (haha). 

Okay, so here's what I generally use for different kinds of plants -

Cactus and Succulents - loam soil, perlite, tiny pebbles, a little compost (learned this from Manong at the nursery)

Calamansi Soil - loam soil, compost/manure, rice husk, coco peat

Papaya Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk, Coco peat

Avocado Soil - loam soil, compost, perlite, Coco peat, rice husk (use when you transfer from water)

Soil to Propagate Gumamela - loam soil, coco peat, perlite, rice husk

Gumamela Soil - loam soil, rice husk, vermicast

Bell Pepper Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Desert Rose/Kalachuchi Soil - use succulent mix

Belly Buddha - use succulent mix

Ginger - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Dill Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk

Rosemary Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk, can also add some pebbles

Will update for other plants :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

3 Hour Gardening Workout

My thighs are so sore after 3 hours of gardening. I sat on bangkito (the plastic kind) for a few hours to re-pot my cacti and succulents. We heard something crash outside my sewing room the other night. I told Sweetie it was likely the cacti. We paused the video we were watching and Sweetie investigated what happened.

We think Grogu was chasing after Anakin. The kitten probably went up the planter and hit the pots. It came tumbling down, hitting the pots below. It was a huge mess. I didn't expect it would happen since we just covered the sides of the plant stand last week to keep the cats away. 

Oh well, I've been meaning to re-pot the cacti and succulents since some have outgrown their pots. It took me awhile to finish re-potting since there were a lot of pups and some had to be separated. Since I re-potted some of them in bigger pots, I asked for help from Sweetie to add support. That way they won't topple down easily if ever a cat goes up again. 

Added bamboo to support the pots

It was a good workout and I enjoy working quietly while gardening. The cats kept me company. Anakin was quite naughty. He even tried biting the cacti. So kulet. I had to separate him and Grogu to avoid having another accident. 

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My Cacti Bit Me

It was my Mama Lola who liked collecting cacti and succulents. I remember she had her collection in a corner of my Mom's garden. Since then I had been curious about having my own.

I started buying but for many years I always failed. I eventually stopped since it seemed like a waste of money because I couldn't care for them properly. A friend though gave me some. I still killed about half of what she gave but in time I improved. I researched and asked the nursery about the right soil to use.

Now I get to enjoy re-potting my cacti and succulents every few months when they outgrow their pot. What's great about taking care of cacti and succulents is they're pretty low maintenance as long as your soul mixture is good. 

I spent about 3 and a half hours re-potting the other day. I use gloves, of course, but one cacti bit me through my glove. Ouchie! I continued working on them though since the prick is no different from my sewing pin bites. Haha.

Now I just need to remember what day I should water my cacti and succulents. Summer usually changes the schedule because it's too hot!

#BeKind #StaySafe 

My Soil Mix for Succulents and Cacti

I used to buy special succulents potting mix from an online shop. I found it a bit expensive. While buying some materials at the nursery, I asked the manong assisting me if they had potting mix for succulents. He said they didn't and told me I could just make my own. 

So since then I've just been making my own potting mix for succulents. I just mix regular loam soil with pebbles and perlite. That's it, that's all you need for your succulents. I noticed also that the succulents and cacti I've been re-potting grow quickly. 

Ate Rose gave me several pots of succulents in June 2022. I've since re-potted them three times. It's either they outgrew their small pot or produced pups. To be honest, I used to buy succulents, but more often than not I end up overwatering them and they die. I learned from trial and error and this is what worked for me:

• 
  If you are a beginner, use store bought succulent potting mix. Using regular soil doesn't work since the soil mix has to have good drainage. 
• Best way to water is from the bottom. I use cake trays (the ones from Goldilocks/Red Ribbon) and place water in the bottom. I let the succulents sip in water for about 15 minutes, then I discard any leftover water. Sometimes I forget to remove the excess water, but if you put only about 1/4 inch of water the plant would be fine. 
• If it's a rainy week (or when the weather is cool), I water only every 10 days. I normally water them weekly on Fridays, except when it's rainy. They are very forgiving, so it's not an issue if you water them after two weeks.  
• Place in a sunny spot. Succulents love the sun. I put them on a table in the garage where it gets direct sunlight in the afternoons (I don't have great sun spots in my house). 
• You can add a bit of perlite every few months so that the plant can get enough nutrients. So far though, I end up re-potting them every six months because they soon outgrow their pots.

It was my Mama Lola who liked collecting succulents and cacti. Mom preferred flowering plants. I honestly thought I'd never get the hang of taking care of succulents, but I eventually did. Best way to take care of them is to have good potting mix and then water sparingly. Just make sure to check if they've outgrown the pot so you can re-pot them. 

Happy gardening!

#BeKind #StaySafe