GARDENING: The Charlie Brown Christmas Cactus

Our Christmas cactus has seen better days. My wife said to do something about it so I'm repotting it. This is how it looked before I started.

First, it's off to the store to get some cactus potting mix.

Next, with some gloves because there is still a few small and sharp needles, I remove it from the hanging basket and knock off all the old mix.

I find an appropriate pot to put it in.

Fill about half way with mix...

...and tamp down.

The plant kind of fell apart when I removed the mix from it so I pick the healthiest looking piece and put it in the pot, fill the rest of the way with mix, and tamp down the mix very firmly with a hammer handle.

Water it in with B1...

...and put it where it will get normal watering.

Let's hope it come back strong.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

Preparing for Christmas in March

It's way overdue but I'm finally tackling the Christmas cactus this weekend. By my reckoning, it's been in it's basket for at least 6 years now.

In that time, another plant...a kalanchoe 'mother of thousands' (bryophyllum diagremontianum)...volunteered into the basket (that's the leaves with all the little leaflets in the picture above...the pink flowers are the Christmas cactus).

Removing the plant from the basket, I see the only soil left is whatever the roots could hang onto for themselves.

It's a bit of a delicate operation to remove it from the basket without too much damage. 

The kelanchoe is in bloom. It has pretty flowers, I'm going to save a piece and put it in it's own pot.

Here's a few pieces of the kelanchoe that I'm putting aside for later.

A coconut husk mat goes in to line the basket. This will provide a good rooting medium and also help keep the soil intact.  It's very well draining and should help prevent rot, which is never good in a succulent like this.

I put in some fine orchid bark in the bottom to assist in draining. It will also break down slowly and extend the life of the potting soil I'm putting on top of it and, to be honest, I don't really have enough potting mix to go around today so this helps me to fill the basket properly.

Once I get the plant in place where I want it, it's just a matter of filling in and tamping with potting soil then watering in.

There, all done. Just hanging it back up on its original shepherd's hook to recuperate. I'll be moving it under the eave later and giving it a dripper to irrigate.

The kelanchoe gets similar treatment but will now be growing in its own pot on the orchid bench.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

A Mother's Job is never done.

This is our Christmas Cactus. We got it six years ago and it's been in a hanging basket next to the orchid bench ever since. I would imagine we should think about repotting it soon.

It's a gorgeous flowering plant, reliably blooming, as it's name suggest, every holiday season.

This post is not about that, however. It's about the alien that came along with it.

I'm talking about the volunteer, or weed if you will, Kalanchoe daigremontiana that grew out of the side of the basket.

It's almost taken over the basket but it still let's the Christmas cactus alone. It puts out thousands of pretty little lavender flowers. It also produces little leaflets that drop off to create new plant, giving is the common name of Mother of Thousands.

Funny, though. None of those little leaflets that have dropped off have created any new plants. It seems content to crowd in with the Christmas cactus.

Apropos of nothing, the camellia next to it is also blooming, giving us a very colorful corner of the garden in this California winter.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Fall Harvest Preview

Look at that...just look at that! A home-grown tomato! Finally, at the Cheapskate's garden, it looks like we'll get some full-size tomatoes from our garden.

We've also got a good bloom of Dragon fruit flower. As you can see, the ants really like it. So do the bees. Hope to have some fruit soon.

The orchid bench will soon be the focus of our efforts.

This cymbidium is showing the first flower spike of the season.

This kalanchoe daigremontiana is our best volunteer. It's coming out of it's host again.

That host? It's this Christmas cactus that will have another spectacular display for the holidays.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Changing of the Guard in Southern California

The last two plants to bloom for 2012... an orange begonia and our Christmas cactus which, of course, blooms at this time each year.

While Mrs. Cheapskate inspects the chile peppers, let's see what the garden has for us this weekend.

These chiles are almost black but should soon turn red.

The lavender makes an end-of-the-year stand.

And, finally, our phaleanopsis is showing signs of cold shock so we'll move it inside for the winter.

After our super short Southern California winter, we'll put it back outside, probably sometime in February.  Not much to do in the garden right now...I have a repair to make on our wooden berm that protects the front yard rose garden, then in about a month, it'll be time to prune the roses.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Thinking of Gardening on a Rainy Day

It never rains in Southern California, a big 70's rock song says, so I don't know what this wet stuff is falling on my head.  I kid...but we've got a 6-day stretch of rain this weekend that's keeping me from the garden.

In between squalls, I was able to go out and take a picture of our fabulous fall rose bloom in the front yard garden against the Christmas decorations at the top. Below is another, more rose centric, picture of the same spot.

In other news, I was able to start harvesting our winter fruit from our tiny little citrus grove (three trees).

Across the top of the bowl, from left to right, a cara cara navel orange, a tangelo, and a Meyer lemon. Cut open in front is another cara cara, displaying the very tasty red flesh it's famous for.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Christmas Shopping with the Cheapskate

JUST A REMINDER: The World on Wheels is an Amazon affiliate. When you shop through the Amazon links on our page you support our efforts to provide the best in gerdening information at no cost to yourself. I really appreciate our supporters who use our Amazon links!


Got a gardener on your Christmas list? Here are some goodies that I know they will appreciate. Easy on the budget, too, because they're Cheapskate Approved!

They don't come much better than Fiskars and these comfy grip garden tools really come in handy for repotting, turning that soil, and digging out those annoying weeds.

I'm not one of those who enjoys the therapeutic effects of standing out in the garden, watering the plants for hours on end. I also don't enjoy the expense of sprinkler systems or wasting water.  I do really love my drip irrigation system, though. It's cheap, realiable, and does a fantastic job. As a bonus, if you live in a frequently droughted area like I do, drip systems save so much water that they're usually exempt from rationing laws.  This one is very easy to set up, too.

Taking the ease of watering to the next step, this timer...that sits between your tap and irrigation hose...makes it completely automatic. I use this 2 zone timer so I can set different watering schedules for my shade plants and those that sit in the full sun.  Can't imagine life without it now.

Not long after the holidays, gardeners are going to want to start their vegetable seeds. We use this tray, that can sit on a window sill in cold climates, to give our plants a greenhouse-quality start. Plant in the beginning of the year. When the last frost is past, you'll have some nice root balls that you can just pop out and stick in the ground.  When done, save for next year or turn in the completely recyclable components to your local recycler.

Again, thanks for supporting the Cheapskate Urban Gardener by doing your shopping through our links. Have a great holiday season.

Darryl