Succulents, a.k.a “Hens and Chicks,” are among the species in the plant kingdom that fascinates me quite a bit. They’re a little different from other plants and they tend of show off their prettiest colors when they’re “happily stressed.” As a person, who don’t handle stress very well, that’s very impressive!

There are quite a few varieties of succulents but I don’t grow a lot of them intentionally. I only want to grow the quantity I can handle because my main focus is edible gardening. It doesn’t hurt to have a select few ornamental plants that I can enjoy growing. I have a few that I love the most, the Echeveria “Black Prince and the Sempervivum Dea. They are my most favorite of all because of the rosette (flower-like) leaf arrangement and their texture. They were one of the plants that I picked up when I first started gardening.

Though I was really excited to grow them, I was so clueless, too. I have killed many of them when I was just starting out but I’ve learned more how to properly care for them as I go along. Out of discouragement and disappointed, I told myself that I’m done with them but I didn’t really give up and so did the succulents.

If I have a place to put a rock garden I would do it but since I don’t, I decided to grow them in a DIY planter using a Dollar Tree trolley. It is a very easy and inexpensive DIY project for those who wanted a budget-friendly succulent planter.

DIY Planter for Succulents

Let’s talk about container requirements for growing succulents. Succulents have roots that spreads wide and deep depending on where you find them.

Plant trolley or saucers are generally used to catch drippings from the excess water from the potted plants. They are commonly used to protect the floor but could also work as a tool for bottom watering plants.

What you’ll need:

• Dollar Tree Trolley
• Hand drill
• Potting soil for succulents
• Container for mixing soil
• Trowel
• Decorative saucer and cup (optional)
• Pebbles and shells
• Wide container with water

How to make it:

1. Use the hand drill to make drainage holes on the trolley. Cordless drill will be best. This is very important step. Succulents couldn’t stand wet feet so the last thing we need is stagnant water on the planter.

2. Place the decorative cup in the container with water. This will help control the friction heat produced by the drill and help prevent cracking. Slowly drill a hole at the bottom of the cup and occasionally pouring water on the surface that’s being drilled. I suggest using the smaller drill bits before using a bigger size to make a bigger hole. A smaller surface area could penetrate a lot easier than the bigger (thicker) size.

3. Pre-moisten the potting soil in a mixing container or bowl before planting the baby succulents. It easier to water the plant when they are pre-moistened.

4. Transplant each and leave an inch or two around each succulent offset to make room for future growth.

5. Water throughly so that the roots could make soil contact. You may water it again once the soil dried out.

DIY Pollinator’s Drinking Station

One of the things that I care about in the garden are the little helpers and partners in food production. I do my very best to maintain a pesticide-free vegetables not only for my family’s sake but also for the sake of those little garden creatures – hover flies, bees and butterflies. They play a vital role in producing food all over the world. Unfortunately, their population over the years have significantly decreased with the use of chemical pesticides in mass-produced vegetables. It also have horrible side effects on people’s health issues. Those pesticides are responsible for a lot health problems that we have nowadays.

I happen to have some decorative cups and saucer in the house that aren’t being used anywhere. I decided to turn the cup(s) into a little pot by drilling a drainage hole at the bottom. I planted some succulents and loved how it turned out. The saucer serves as the pollinator’s drinking station for the flies, bees and butterflies.

Those beneficial insects, like most creatures in the animal kingdom, needs water. Insects can generally get refreshments from puddles of water and little nooks and crannies where rain water naturally sits. However, during the summer time, when water is a bit scars, they could benefit from drinking stations like this. Remember, if you provide food, water and shelter, those pollinators will come.

Some succulents that died in my care early on wasn’t all because of my doing. I didn’t realize that Sempervivum dies (monocarpic) after they reproduce. These are the offset (offsprings) of the original.

I overwintered them in a planter trolley in the greenhouse with a some bubble wraps at the bottom. I cover them with frost cloth whenever we have freezing temperatures.

They were so tiny back in the fall but now they are outgrowing the planter so I thought it’s about time to rearrange them.

I used two Dollar Tree planter trolley as a planter for this project. I drilled some holes at the bottom and filled them up with Simplegrow soil cactus and succulent mix with worm castings. Right off the bat my little succulents are going to have nutrients in them that will help them grow vigorously.

Succulent mix are slightly different from the regular mix. They are well draining mixture that are not too acidic soil and with Simplegrow soil worm castings in the mix I can expect that these little babies will grow well.