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Caring for Cacti

The cactus family includes a large variety of succulent plants that vary size and color. Some grow into tall columns, reaching up to 50 feet high, while others are only a few inches high and well-suited for growing in pots. These mini-cacti generally produce brightly colored flowers and take on interesting shapes. You can buy mini-cacti already potted in small containers at several local gardening shops!

Cacti are quite low-maintenance, making them an ideal plant for new gardeners and a great housewarming gift. The secrets to growing healthy cacti indoors include providing them with plenty of sunlight, not over watering, and using the right soil. The most important thing to remember when choosing a pot for a cactus is drainage. Find a pot with drainage holes in the bottom that will allow excess water to drain out. Cacti also do well in smaller pots, so choose a pot that’s about twice the size of the plant. Flymeawaycreations shop has several planters that work great with small cacti plants! Many of the 3D printed planters that are listed at the shop have drainage holes to help release the excess water.

So where is the best spot for your new little plant? Kitchen and bathroom windows are great for cacti, because they can pull additional moisture from the air as needed. Most species of cacti need several hours of direct sunlight every day. A south- or east-facing window will be ideal for most cacti. However, if the cactus starts to look yellowed, bleached, or orange, it is likely getting too much light, and you should move it to a west-facing window. Some cactus varieties do better with indirect sunlight. If your cactus is turning white, yellowing, or spots are turning orange, it likely means the plant is getting too much sun. Move the cactus to a window that gets less direct sun.

How do you take care of your new cacti plant?

When you get home with your new cacti, first check the soil don’t water if the soil is still moist, as this will cause rot and kill the plant. Over watering

can kill a cactus, but the plant will need weekly watering during active growing periods. Growth phases are typically between spring and fall. When the soil feels dry to the touch, water the plant until the soil is thoroughly damp. Rain water is preferable to tap water, if you can manage to collect and store it.

Remember for the first two weeks after transplanting, from the store bought container to a new planter that you find at Flymeawaycreations or at another shop make sure the soil is damp, but not soaked and find a great location with enough sunlight for your new little plant!

You can follow the link to Flymeawaycreations shop to see all the different designs for your new cactus!

www.flymeawaycreations.com

Gardening with Turtles

There are hundreds of kinds of tortoises and even more kinds of turtles, but my experiences have been limited to but a few. I have found they make excellent garden companions. Did you know that the box turtle can be a great gardener friend? Yes, these beautiful animals can help keep those pests away from your beautiful flowers! The box turtle’s diet can consist of

Slugs

Flies

Grubs

Snails

Grasshoppers

Crickets

Box turtles will eat most bugs; essentially, if they can catch it, they will eat it. The rest is their diet is made up of fungi, moss, and berries. If you can, please welcome box turtles in your garden. Invite box turtles into your garden by planting their favorite fruits; mulberry, blackberries, and elderberry. In sunny areas, encourage dense clusters of brambles, and let the ripened berries fall. Choose species that fruit at different times during the season. Also be aware that these cute creatures have a well-known penchant for raiding vegetable gardens, especially for cantaloupes and tomatoes, so erect a little box turtle barrier. Leave large, continuous areas of natural leaf litter mulch beneath the trees on your property, where the animals can remain camouflaged and forage for prey. Build brush piles over soft, loose soil by layering branches and leaf litter, where they can spend the night or overwinter. Any moist place, whether swamp, damp forest depression, or simple water garden, will help turtles survive the hottest parts of the day.

Should you be fortunate enough to witness a turtle nesting in your garden, identify and protect the site from any dogs or cats. If you can identify the species of wild turtle that has graced your garden, report it to your local fish and wildlife office. The common box turtle is not so common nowadays. Even these masters of retreat, temperature regulation and patient waiting for dangers to pass are not faring well in a quickly changing climate. Being stolen from the wild to be kept as a pet or sold in a pet store is another major impact that they can’t recover from quickly. Fresh water, and safe corridors for wild turtles to travel to fresh water, is increasingly scarce. Box turtles are listed as vulnerable, one step away from endangered, on the IUCN Red List because of these hazards and more.

So the next time you are in your garden or plan to create one think about this cute slow moving gardener friend!

Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop has two unique 3D printed planters that are designed as a cute bronze colored tortoise and a mint green adorable sea turtle! You can follow the links below to check out both styles!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/667570566/sea-turtle-planter-for-indoor-gardening

https://www.etsy.com/listing/129676347/tiny-tortoise-planter-for-small

Gardening with Birds

Spring means the arrival of flowers and greenery, but it also means the arrival of spring birds too! If you want to attract more birds to your yard this spring, take a peek below at some helpful tips on how to attract spring birds. You will find that with just a few steps, you can create a yard that is bird friendly and inviting.

One helpful tip to bring birds to your home today is growing native plants. With Audubon’s Native Plant Database, you can find the best plants for the birds in your area. Growing bird-friendly plants will attract and protect the birds you love while making your space beautiful, easy to care for

Birds and native plants are made for each other, thanks to millions of years of evolution. Large, colorful fruits feed birds and, in return, birds spread the plant’s seeds far and wide, supporting whole ecosystems. Native plants are also important hosts for protein-rich native insects like butterfly and moth caterpillars, which nesting birds need to feed their growing chicks. For their part, birds have shaped their entire life cycles, including their migrations and feeding habits, around plants.

Sparrows love thickets and tall grass, so plant patches of blackberry thicket and wild grasses to attract them. Blackberries and wild grasses offer fruits and seeds as food, and they also provide nesting habitat, shelter from harsh weather, and foraging grounds where sparrows, along with other birds like warblers and chickadees, can hunt for insects. Willows, sagebrush, and other dense or shrub-like native plants are also good for attracting these birds.

Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Scarlet Tanager are attracted to elderberries and sunflowers. Sunflowers attract a wide variety of bird species, and so are practically bird feeders that you can grow in your yard.

Colorful finches are attracted to the colorful flowers in the daisy (Asteraceae) family. Daisies, which include sunflowers, thistles, and asters, produce the small seeds favored by finches, and also the downy fibers used to line nests.

Hummingbirds love sweet nectar and wildflowers are a perfect way to bring these tiny birds into your garden!

Don’t forget birds love fresh water to drink and bathe in. Provide fresh water in a bird bath (if you installed a winter heater now is the time to remove it) and add a feature to make the water bubble or trickle. These sounds will let the birds know the water is there. Having water bowls around the yard are also appreciated by birds.

***Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop started this year offering wildflower seed packets for anyone who would love to start a garden to help attract, hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees! Follow the link to see the packets (under $3& free shipping)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/676890803/wildflower-seed-mix-non-gmo-butterfly

There is a nice app that is easy to download onto your phone to help guide you on finding the perfect plants to attract birds in your area it the Audubon Bird Guide app and it is a free! You will have a complete field guide to over 800 species of North American birds, right in your pocket. Built for all experience levels, it will help you identify the birds around you, keep track of the birds you’ve seen, and get outside to find new birds near you.

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Gardening with Hedgehogs

Hosting a rich Eco-system will promote natural pest control and a thriving habitat for small critters and for your beautiful flowers! Known as the “Gardener’s friend”, Hedgehogs aren’t just cute, they’re also valuable pest controllers. They love to munch on slugs and other pest, keeping your flowers and herbs blooming throughout the spring, summer, and autumn. The hedgehog is an insectivore with a voracious appetite – an adult can easily eat up to 200g of insects a night! That means it would take a single hedgehog only three months to munch its way through a slug-infested garden.

Leaving an area of your garden wild naturally unkempt is a great way to help wildlife and little hedgehog’s come into your garden. Hedgehogs need three things; food, water and shelter. And pretty much all of those can be achieved with a good compost heap. Hedgehogs and other wildlife can then use fallen leaves, twigs and dead vegetation to build their nests. In the wild areas also provides a home for the insects that hedgehogs and birds love to feed on. Also by creating a pile of old bits of wood can give the hedgehogs somewhere to hide, sleep and hibernate. Choose a quiet spot that is unlikely to be disturbed from November to March as this is when the hedgehogs will be hibernating. Hedgehogs are able to swim, so may be attracted to garden ponds. So if you have a pond, create a sloping edge using rocks or wood so that they can climb out with ease. This will also be useful for frogs and toads.

So this spring when you start your gardening, and would like a little help from a gardener’s friend try to do less gardening. Yes, really. Leave wild patches, plant hedges and, if you have the space (and you dare), leave patches of brambles to grow freely.

Flymeawaycreations shop has a cute hedgehog 3D printed planter to bring a little nature into your home! Follow the link to see the cute fellow!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/671702069/hedgehog-planter-for-succulents

hedgehog

Terrarium Planter DIY

Succulents require little care, making them well-suited for jars or bowl garden terrariums. They grow slowly and require little water. Jars provide an enclosed yet view-able growing environment for succulents, making them suitable for teaching children about planting and growing!

Succulents are native to areas that receive little rainfall; therefore they prefer to dry out between watering

You can create your own mini garden by recycling an old jar, bowl, or a unique object lying around the house! Getting children involved helps teach them responsibility for their plant, and teaches them a little bit about nature!

To begin your garden use these steps below:

Add a 1-inch layer of gravel or small rocks for drainage. (Depends on size of container, use small amount if container is small)

Add a layer of potting soil. It is a good idea to get potting soil made for indoor plants if you can.

Place small ferns, succulents, or even cacti in your soil. You want to keep about 1 plant per 1-inch diameter, if possible. Generally, plant your largest plant first so you leave enough space. (You can use one or more than one plant in your mini garden)

Once you have your plants planted add a small layer of decorative material: rocks, moss, or sand, sea glass, and shells to create a special look!

TO CARE FOR YOUR TERRARIUM IN A JAR:

Try to keep a bit of humidity in the jar. If there is a bit of moisture on the side of the jar, it’s fine. If not, give the jar a gentle spray of water or drip a bit of water along the side of the jar. It is generally not best to simply pour water in the jar. And, over watering can happen very quickly! A little bit is all you need

To ensure that your terrarium will be successful, keep succulents and cacti together, and keep fern and tropical plants together, because they require different amounts of water and soil. You’ll want cactus soil for the succulents and regular old potting soil for everything else. The rocks are used as a false drainage layer while the activated charcoal helps keep the terrarium healthy, and the moss can be used for decoration and to help soak up and retain water.

The plants in a closed terrarium require high light but no direct sunlight. … However, keep in mind that a balanced terrarium should have a certain amount of moisture on the glass. A completely enclosed terrarium requires little or no watering but when in doubt, always water less.

Anyone can enjoy creating and customizing a cute glass jar terrarium with the easy to assemble, DIY kit found at Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop!

*You can choose the kit with glass jar, supplies, and plant OR kit with only supplies & plant *

The kit includes: (1) small bag of white rocks

(1) 2oz bag of soil & sand mixture

(1) small bag of moss

(1) small bag with 2 starfish, 2 coastal sea glass, 2 coastal seashells

(1) mini sempervivum succulent

(1) small glass jar: Height: 4&1/2″ Width: 2&1/4″

(1) Care instructions for plant & Directions to set up the terrarium

This could be a great gift for that special someone in the family, girlfriend, or teacher!

www.flymeawaycreations.com