DIY Cactus Bowl Garden

Over the Summer our landscape-architect friend Alex trusted us to look after his plants. For three glorious weeks our bedroom was full of greenery and I realised how much of a difference plants make to a room. Ever since we’ve been buying plants and putting them everywhere; our kitchen even has a little makeshift garden area (made out of an old ironing board, we’re nothing if not resourceful). When I was thinking about what plants I wanted I decided against anything too green and frondy; my room is pretty light but the temperature fluctuates quite a bit. I needed something hardy. Luckily for me, pinterest went cactus mad this year and so inspiration was just a click away.

You will need:
A fruit bowl
A selection of cacti
Soil
Gold sticky back plastic
Sharp scissors
A pen

1. Clean your bowl thoroughly on the inside and the outside. The inside needs to be clean from nasties that might harm your plants and the outside needs to be grease free to add your design.
2. Draw and cut out shapes from your sticky-backed plastic. I chose bears because they are great.
3. Peel off the backing and smooth your design down.
4. Take your cactus selection. You want to have a good balance between ‘thrillers’ and ‘fillers’ to make your garden look even and not too cluttered.
5. Fill your bowl two thirds of the way up with soil.
6. Now place your first cactus in to check the level of the soil.
7. Add soil around your cactus and tamp down to secure it.
8. Keep adding your cacti until you are happy with the overall look.