Gardening Baby Steps

I don't like house plants. I don't like gardening. I've never cared for tending to anything plant-like except for basil plants. Although I usually end up letting them die and then I buy another one. I don't have a green thumb that apparently the rest of my family has.

But the other day I thought, "I should plant some succulents." No idea why I suddenly had the drive to clean out this small sliver of dirt in my front patio that has been collecting leaves and berries for the past 1.5 years. The previous tenants/owners left behind some disposable planters and hideous-to-me garden decorations that I have been too lazy to throw out. Here's a before shot of the area.

Now, I've never liked succulents or cacti. I've always thought they were ugly. I never understood why people willingly planted them in their yards. But lately I've been starting to see the appeal. Perhaps it's because my state has been in a drought for several years and you'd be hard pressed to go a couple days without hearing something about water restrictions and which cities are wasting the most water (*cough*Beverly Hills*cough*). Drought resistant landscaping. It's a hot thing nowadays. The next trend everyone is jumping on since gluten-free.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting drought-resistant for low-maintenance. Regardless, the idea had been self-planted in my head and I couldn't get it out. I measured my plot of land (5' long x 8" wide) and searched for succulents at Home Depot. I only had succulents on my mind, but then these tiny cacti with glorious bright-colored "things" on them caught my eye. I HAD TO HAVE THEM TOO! So tiny and cute!

I wasn't loving the price tag on all of these suckers ($2.50-$4 each), but I sucked it up. I could have gone for the 6-pack of mixed succulents, which were pretty inexpensive, but some of the succulents in that variety pack were "ground cover", which I truly think just looks like weeds. No, thank you.

I thought I would have an easy task of throwing out the old planters, raking the leaves, loosening the soil, and planting the succulents. BWAHahahahaha. What the eff was I thinking? Of course everything had to be 10x more difficult than expected.

Those planters had roots growing out of or into them so they were quite literally attached to the dirt under the planters. I couldn't tell where the roots originated and some looked like they were coming from the neighbor's side. I couldn't believe how many roots were in that small sliver of dirt. What I thought was going to take maybe 30 minutes ended up taking at least 3 hours spread over two evenings.

I eventually got tired of digging down deep looking for the end of all these roots, so I just cut them. I was feeling lazy. I wanted a quick fix. My husband saw me cut some of the roots and chimed in, "you know you're not supposed to do that." YEAH, I KNOW!! THANKS FOR THE ADVICE!!!

So yeah......everything looks nice and curated on the surface, but deep down, I wonder how long it'll take for those mystery roots to grow back and ruin my now beloved succulents and cacti. But look at those tiny plants! How did I ever hate them so much???

So I actually have NO idea what I'm doing and whether these succulents will survive. Feel free to chime in with tips if you've ever taken care of succulents.