4 Men 1 Lady

a lifestyle blog about the persuit of bringing beauty to a house full of men.

How to transplant a cactus.

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My sweet friend and neighbor was discarding some cacti she no longer wanted.
I was more than delighted to take it after having just shopped for cactus and succulents a few weeks ago.
Hello?! Sticker shock! Cacti is EXPENSIVE!

Transplanting the cacti to different containers proved a bit of a challenge.  You can’t just grab it and dig those roots out.  Those prickers will get ya and itch for hours afterwards (speaking from experience).  So after some trial and error here’s the best method I found for transplanting cactus.

1. Pick your container.  There’s no magical planter pot but make sure your pot isn’t too small for your cactus.  You need a minimum 1/4″ between the cactus body and edge of pot.  Also, make sure there is a drain hole to allow excess water to exit the planter at the bottom of your container.
2. Fill the bottom with a good layer of rocks, pebbles or gravel.  This will allow for better drainage.
3. Start filling the pot with your potting soil.  If you really want to get fancy you can make up your own soil for premium cactus growth.  Mix 8 parts potting soil, 5 parst perlite or pumice and 3 parts granite sand. However, I’ve used regular potting soil and haven’t had a problem.  It’s sort of like the difference between shopping at Whole Foods and your regular grocery store.  You can also purchase a pre-made cactus mix like this one:

4. Fill your container approx 3/4 full.

Now for the fun (aka slightly intimidating part)…transplanting the cactus.

Like I said earlier, you can’t just grab the cactus with your bare hands.  Even using gardening gloves can sometimes prove useless (yes, speaking from experience again).  Those pokers are brutal and unforgiving.  Crumpled up packaging paper or newspaper works great.  Simply wrap the paper around the cactus, loosen the roots and pull right out of it’s soil.

Next, make a hole deep enough in the new soil so the roots will be fully covered when more soil is added to cover the base.

To keep the cactus from flopping or tipping over it is necessary to pack the soil down.  Firmly press your fingers in to the soil to give it a secure, dense pack.   Add more soil if necessary and repeat pressing down.

There you have it…your cactus will be correctly transplanted.
My biggest tip for keeping it alive…DON’T OVERWATER!
The soil should be pretty dry before watering.  In fact some species can even go months without watering.

Like what you see? Hover over to Pin.

 

Thank goodness Spring is here.

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I don’t operate on all cylinders during the winter.
My mood, motivation and sense of well-being seem to be lacking.
I need the windows open.  I need warm, fresh air. I need boys outside playing and laughing.
I need the sunshine. I need to hear the birds singing.
Well Spring is here just in time.  I don’t think I could have handled one more month of the bitter cold (nor could the people around me).
I’ve got projects to tackle and I’m ready.
Stay tuned…

DIY’ing a vintage tulip table.

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Almost three years ago exactly I found this vintage tulip table at one of my favorite shops here in Salt Lake Fantastic Mr. Finds. You cant tell from the picture but it was pretty beaten up. The base was badly scratched and the paint was chipped. The table top was dinged and the underside was warped.
But I didn’t care.
I fell in love with it and knew with a little TLC it could be beautiful again.

So I strapped in on the top of my minivan and brought it home.
You should have seen the Mr’s face when he pulled up to the house to see this thing flipped upside down on the top my the car.

My plan was to replace our farmhouse table with this vintage Burke.

I loved that farmhouse table but it was a little too long for the space.  I had good intentions of selling the farmhouse table but it got lower and lower on the to-do list as time went on.

As for the tulip table…I took the white top off and donated it.  Then I had the tulip base powder-coated and nice crisp white for $75.
Then it sat.
And sat.
And sat.
And sat in our basement for almost three years until that one fateful day when I was ready.

Truth be told, one of the reasons it took me so long to bring up the table was because marble and fabrication is no cheap ticket.  My plan was to find a remnant to cut instead of having to purchase a whole slab.  Unfortunately, remnants are small and just that…a remnant of a slab.  Finding a white piece of marble to fit my 70″ x 45″ shape was next to impossible.  Having said that going this route would be much less expensive than buying a new tulip table which cost several thousands.  Even the reproductions cost way more than what I could do mine for.

Buehner Marble did the fabricating of the marble.  All said and done it was around $1400.  Again, not cheap but just trying Googling Saarinen and check out the prices.

I was so excited I neglected to take a picture of how we put it together but the Mr. cut a piece of plywood which the attached to the tulip base.   There is about a 9″ marble overhang around the plywood base.  We then attached the marble to the plywood base using an industrial strength adhesive.

I love the way it turned out and fits the space so much better.

(Photos by Allison Bills Photography).