Succulent Garden Box Project

Before I met my husband, I was never one for gardening. My mom and I are actually notorious for killing everything that we try to plant and nurture. Plants, vegetable gardens, even the most low-maintenance greens die no matter what we do, and how much we take care of them. It's now become public knowledge and me and plants should only work together if I'm eating them!

Well, my husband on the other hand, has a green thumb. He loves gardening and landscaping and figuring out how to make things beautiful with plants, gardens, and God's creation. He's been wanting to add a garden box to our little patio area for a while, and last weekend, we finally got around to it! It was such a fun adventure, and it definitely made me want to garden more! Maybe with his help, I won't be such a plant-killer any longer!
 

We both love succulents, so we decided to go with a succulent box. It took a while to choose which ones we wanted to be a part of our garden box; there are SO many varieties of succulents! Finally, after about an hour, we decided on a few little, colorful plants. 

We also bought some rocks and soil. Succulents need well-drained soil, but we couldn't find a garden box that had a draining tray underneath. So one of the very helpful Home Depot staff members gave us the tip of lining the bottom of the box with rocks, then adding soil, as a way to "naturally" drain the soil. That was good enough for us!

Then, we added the soil!

I had the most fun with the soil. Patting it down and making sure all the plants were nice and snug in there was so fun for some reason!

AND the finished project!

I enjoyed this project more than I thought I would. At first, I was just going to let my hubby do this on his own, since it is his thing! But I am so happy I joined in on this garden project with him. I've realized lately that I miss my creative, artistic side. I am craving it. Growing up, I was so artistic. I painted and danced for years, enjoyed singing and was part of a vocal conservatory and my church worship team, and loved to write short stories for fun. Once I started college, I went into a very science-focused major, and while I LOVE nutrition, food science, and everything it entails, my artistic side sort of got washed away, and I've been missing it. This project really brought that pleasure out in me again, and I can't wait to see what other arts and crafts my husband and I will adventure in together!

Lesson learned: be a well rounded person. Don't give up on things you once loved and enjoyed, and don't be afraid to go back to them even if it's been 8-9 years since you've participated in that particular activity. Life is too short! So do the things you love, and do them often! :)