How to Plant an Outdoor Succulent Garden here in the UK

With spring finally arriving, many of you will be getting back out into the garden wanting to get your hands dirty again! Many of you will probably be thinking of making a small outdoor succulent garden or rockery ahead of the summer season and I'm here to help provide some useful tips to help guide you!

Designing your Succulent Garden

Succulents are typically drought-tolerant plants with large, water-storing leaves. Succulent plants require water, especially during the growing season, despite their high level of drought tolerance.

Designing a succulent garden should take your location, soil type, plant layout, moisture level, and available plant types into account. Many succulents can withstand colder temperatures better  than others. Before starting your succulent garden outdoors, do a little study on the numerous succulent shapes and sizes that you have available to you.

Different Outdoor Succulents

Choosing your succulents and plants that you are going to use is the first step in growing a successful outdoor succulent garden. Start with simple, low risk plants I you're new to this and also if you live in colder climates. Sedum and Sempervivum are simple to cultivate and can be placed in areas that are bright, sunny, or even slightly shaded.

Whatever plant species you pick, succulents require soil that drains properly. They will thrive in rocky areas, soils that are sandy or gritty, and fissures and crevasses. Succulents in cool-season areas will do best in containers that are brought indoors for the winter.

Aeonium, kalanchoe, aloe, and echeveria are good choices. Discover these plants' distinctive sizes, shapes, and textures. To conserve water and add interest and colour to a xeriscape region of the garden, use succulent outdoor plants.

Planning your Outdoor Succulent Garden

When you’ve chosen your plants and are ready for planting, you will need to know how to plan an outdoor succulent garden. First you must choose a nice sunny spot in your garden that you truly believe your succulents will thrive in.

Check the soil conditions and drainage by digging a hole at least 1 foot (0.5 m.) deep and filling it with water. If the water drains within a half-hour, the soil is sufficiently porous. If not, add 3 inches (7.5 cm) of sand or another grit such as perlite to the mixture to help improve texture and drainage. Use taller specimens at the center of the area and spreading species at the edges or dotted among the larger plants as ground cover. To serve as mulch, cover the area with a layer of stones or small rocks. This will aid in weed prevention, moisture conservation, and excess water evaporation.

Caring for Outdoor Succulents

Now, if you are even considering building an outdoor succulent garden I expect that you have some knowledge on how to care for succulents indoors (if not then this might be a really steep learning curve).

Although succulent plants can endure dry spells, they need constant watering during the growing season (Summer & Spring). Water deeply once the soil has dried to about two inches (5 cm) below the surface, then wait a week or so before watering again. In heatwaves and exceptional heat it may be necessary to water your outdoor succulents two or three times a week!

The most common problem people find with succulents is losing them to rot... which is super sad and preventable. To avoid this it might be worth keeping all of your succulents in pots so that you can easily remove stems from the soil and provide drying periods if they are caught out in heavy rainfall. Also please note, that it is always best to water your succulents and cacti aswell, from the base of the plant to keep leaves dry.

Always be on the look out for pests such as Caterpillars, Aphids and other creepy crawlies that will nibble on your beloved succulents and combat them with horticultural products and environmental

and animal friendly preventative measures (I've linked a great spray you can make yourself easily here!).

To maintain succulent garden plants, cut off dead stems and offsets. It is simple to take a cutting and propagate this into a brand-new plant (I've actually already written a blog about this which I've linked here!).

New cuttings should be planted in a fresh part of the garden after being cared for in a well-drained potting mix until the roots are substantial and strong enough to join the rest of the garden and thrive in the wild!

Hopefully you've learned a couple of things from this blog post and as always if you have any questions please drop me a message!