How to create a tea cup garden

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

1 hr

How to start:

Go to your kitchen cabinet and take stock of what old tea cups that are chipped, mismatched and unused for a long time. Alternatively you can consider using jam jars as an alternative for planting.

What to plant:

It is important to carefully assess the plant species to be placed inside. In general they should not be chosen if they are too large or plants with rapid development. The tea cups are small diameter and the depth is not excessive. Fast growth or worse dimensions are not adequate, they would quickly fail our composition of gardening.

Succulents – are very suitable are succulents. Visit your local nursery and you will be sure to find a tiny sized succulent plant. Other species mentioned are very small ivy, violets spring, the ficus or primroses. To transplant these plants within the tea cup, you can proceed with a classical transplantation, taking care to arrange then on the bottom a little earth, then move the seedling and fill with other specific soil, without going to the brim.
Herbs – You can try some of the following herbs either oregano, english mint, chamomile, pineapple sage, and orange mint. However, the key is not to over sow a multitude of seeds as the cups don’t have much room for the growth of the roots.

For a more lively, you can also choose the species of plants with variegated foliage or, choose the bulbs already formed, perhaps about to bloom soon, as hyacinths.

Once you’ve planted your miniature tea cup garden it is very important at this point to water them.

If you let them sit in water, succulents will quickly rot, so using a fast draining potting mix, and putting holes in your containers is the easiest way to keep your plants healthy. You can do this by trying to pierce the bottom with a mini drill and cover with a small piece of clay.

If drilling its important to be aware that drill holes in ceramics, you need a special drill bit, and a lot of patience. It does take a while to get through ceramics, and its important to let the bit cool down so that the heat doesn’t build up from the friction and shatter your cup.

After the holes are drilled, try cutting a small piece of plastic window screening and put it over the holes, to keep the soil in and let the water out. You can also use paper towel or a coffee filter.