New high bed for small outdoor cacti

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:37 pm

Hello
This year I am going to try some cacti outside of the warmhouse.
I started to build a little high bed on the southern side of the Gh.(Might be too small quite soon

)
Here is how it looks so far:
The outer wall goes into the ground about 5 inches

I will fix this little shelter on it in wintertime for rain protection

Fixed the cormers with concrete, after it hardened I am planing to set a couple of rows of the bricks from the barn on top for more elevation.

RayC · Post by **RayC** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:11 pm

Looks like a good start. Are you going to take out some of the soil in the middle or just add good drainage soil on top?

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:23 pm

Jens cool. Nice start you got going there. Good luck with it!

Post by **daiv** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:08 am

Is that for Opuntias?

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:30 am

Hi, and thanks for the response.
Ralf also told me to make it big because it will get too small anyway quite soon.
But I wanted to make it fitting for the little shelter which is 3x4 ft. wide

.

@daiv: I think I´d better not start any opuntia on it (well maybe a Maihuenia or Pterocactus

). I´m going for some Escobaria and Echinocereus also maybe a test on certain gymnocalycium species.
But there will be some diggin´ before that...

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:34 pm

Ralf is right, but I understand the need to start small. It looks like you have room to expand when the desire hits.

Maybe you could try a modified version of Ralf's heating wire in a larger bed. That might be an interesting project.

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:10 pm

Hi Harriet,
yes a heating wire would probably help growing the more tender things outdoors. But part of the fun for me at this point is to see them through the winter without artificial heating. Let me try how far I´ll get with that aproach in this cold and windy climate.

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:56 pm

I used the fine weather today to make some progress on the (miniature:oops: ) outdoor cactus ground.

Do you think I could put the substrate right onto this layer of broken burnt clay or do I have to look for something that is in between the two layers like e.g. coarse gravel?
Jens

iann · Post by **iann** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:00 pm

We call that a sump in English

A nice area for water to collect under your cactus bed

A better design is one that uses the height of the bed to cause drainage away to the sides. To do that, don't provide a convenient area for water to collect below ground level.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:33 am

Do I spot the feet of a little Jens?

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:45 pm

@Ian : I was hoping the burnt pottery (actually broken roof shingles) wouldnn´t take up too much water itself and would povide drainage because of the large open spaces beetween it. So maybe i should put some cobblestones from the seashore on top of it. Then maybe cover it with a waterpermeable fleece and than put the sandy substrate on top?!

@daiv: Yes, the little ´Jens´ is called Maja and is 9 years old

.

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:12 pm

Jens, it looks good so far.
Did you've ever seen the construction manual at my website?
Click here, only in German, sorry.

You should fill the holes in the drainage with coarse gravel. Then you should cover it with a garden fleece. Otherwise the soil will run into the holes and your drainage won't work.
Which soil will you use? You can try the special soil for winterhardy cacti from Kakteen-Haage. I've used it for my small flowerbed. here

Did you've a view at the small list of winterhardy cacti at my website?
It's a small choise of plants who grow with success at my place. here

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:57 pm

Hi Ralf,
thanks for the good advice

. In fact I took a looong look at your awesome webpage with the very informative section about your outdoor plants. In fact I took the big new one as a blueprint for my little starter version. I just thought that the whole thing would move with frost each winter if it was not built into the ground.
How are the white walls of your big one looking after the first cold period so far?

I think I will order some of the Haage stuff just to get an idea how it should be.
Do you think it would be a bad idea to use about one third of the black sandy garden soil I dug out ?

.... and then maybe some coarse sand that is used in construction (Baukies)and some porous material to get a little more air into the substrate ? How about natural clay?- I could get that stuff from near by. Or crushed old bricks?
Jens

Ralf · Post by **Ralf** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 4:32 pm

Thanks for your praise, Jens.

Jens wrote:How are the white walls of your big one looking after the first cold period so far?

The bricks looking good so far. I don't see any damages till now.

Jens wrote:Do you think it would be a bad idea to use about one third of the black sandy garden soil I dug out ?

This kind of sand stores too much water. That would encourage the root rot. The soil should be very porous and permeable for water. You should choose a more mineralic soil. If you order the Haage stuff you'll see it.
You shouldn't use clay or loam therefor. More better will be some humus and a lot of porous stuff e.g. gravel, crushed lava, expanded slate or somewhat else.

Jens · Post by **Jens** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:12 pm

Thanks Ralf, I´ll do it like you say.
Jens