tumamoc rock garden

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:09 am

I've been working on a rock garden in which to grow my cacti. I always thought terracing was cool, so that's what I did. The beds are elevated about 20-30 cm off the ground. It's a work in progress and I've been setting it up one cell at a time. I tried to mix up some sand and pea gravel into the otherwise silty/sandy native soil. Hopefully it will drain enough when the "monsoon" rains hit later this summer. I think I'll wait to see how it goes before I put all my favorites in the ground. I am debating whether or not to add a top dressing, but I'd like to put in something that looks natural enough. The one other thing I am unsure of is that it sits under the shade of fairly big Eucalyptus tree. There is plenty of light morning and late afternoon, but a good deal of shade from about 11 am to 3 pm. The cacti do fine with this lighting situation, but I'm not so sure I will get the best blooms. Here are some photos from different angles:

The last shot is detail of one of the cells

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Post by **CoronaCactus** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:47 am

Nice! Good job man, looks great.
I did mine in a similar fashion.

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:57 am

That looks great. I wouldn't worry about the shade, but maybe detritus from the eucalyptus...I don't know, are they very messy trees? Here in Phoenix anyway the shade is a welcome thing, especially from noon to about 3:30.

peterb

Post by **daiv** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:34 pm

Hey, you live in Arizona - an outdoor cactus garden is a MUST!

lordarutha · Post by **lordarutha** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:43 pm

I am so jealous of you guys who can plant up outside.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:14 pm

Very Cool!
I wish I had originaly used a more natural looking top dressing in my 1st outdoor bed.
I used 3/4 crushed gravel (palm springs gold) and I thought it looked cool until I saw more gardens using decomposed granite in the mix and on top and that looks far more natural. But at this point it would require far more work to change it out than Im willing to do, Oh well

Tree's deffinatly suck anywhere near an out door bed if you like to keep it clean looking

, I use a leafvac and it makes it far easier to keep it looking nice.
Keep us posted on the progress.

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:59 pm

Heck yeah, looks good from where I'm sitting

I think you will do fine with your new outdoor garden.

John P Weiser · Post by **John P Weiser** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:41 am

What a start!

Gives you a feeling of accomplishment when it's all in and growing. I'm sure you will enjoy watching the cactus and garden mature.

Just as we will enjoy future updates on the future expansions.

Just ask Bill he knows how a garden can grow just as fast as the plants.

sierrarainshadow

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:18 am

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I'll definitely throw in some updates as the garden progresses and as the ground-dwelling cacti start to grow/flower/die...hopefully not the latter.

By the way, the Eucalyptus tree isn't so bad. The leaves are large and solid enough to pick up easily and the branch spall is fairly minimal. I may try Tony's leafvac or, more probably a leaf blower. I would be crushed--emotionally--if a big branch broke off and fell on the "kids".

Lewis_cacti · Post by **Lewis_cacti** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:39 am

Looking Good tumamoc

Nice echinocereus blooms.
and good to see an Aussie native in there too!

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:08 pm

Yeah, and I'll trade you any one of my cacti for a koala to go with it

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