
Hen + Chicks are one of my favorite plants to grow. Super hardy and in need of little care, they are fun to watch as they grow, grow, grow before your very eyes. I found these neat vintage vegetable cans at the flea market and thought they would make fun planters for my growing succulent garden.
Want to give some of your own hen + chicks a cute home? Here's what I did...


Materials: vintage tins, drill with small drill bit, potting soil, hen + chicks, coco moss (not pictured), twine, fun tags (also not pictured). You can find hen + chicks and coco moss at your local nursery, hardware store, etc.



Step 1: Drill a few holes in the bottom of your tin. Three or four should do the trick, having a pot with good drainage is important to the health of your plant.
Step 2: Fill your tin to the brim with potting soil. Make sure your soil is moist to start with, if you're using a bag of potting soil add water to it first, mix it around, then add it to your tin.
Step 3: Plant the hen+chicks. Hen+chicks don't have much of a root system so it's easy to simply insert the plant/root into the soil. If you're breaking up a group of hen+chicks, gently pull the root of one plant (chick) from the main plant (hen).
Step 4: Water. Give the plant a good dose of water to help the roots grow. For future watering, let the soil dry out between watering.


Step 5: Add coco moss around the plant. I like to add moss around the hen+chick, giving it a little nest to live in because I think it gives the plant a more finished look. Submerge the moss in a bowl of water, give it a good swish, then pull a bunch of long strands together. Gently bend and circle the moss around the plant until it looks like a nest. If it gets a bit wild you can always put the moss back in the water and start over, or simply trim with a pair of scissors.
Step 6: Add twine around the tin to give it some texture. A long scrap of fabric or pattered paper would be cute too!
Step 7: If you're like me your projects keep growing... this is where I decided the plants needed some general store flair in the way of a fun tag/label. I went to the trouble of aging my tags by dying them in some tea. Once dry, I stamped "Hen + Chick" on the front and tied it to the tin with twine.


Step 8: Enjoy -- my what a super cute plant you have! Or do what I did and send a little "plant kit" to your friend (she'll have to supply the plant of course, I don't think the hen + chicks would make it through the mail)!


A few words on Hen + Chicks: They are super easy to grow, perfect for a newbie gardener. Because they're succulents they don't need much water, just lots of sunlight. They can stay outside all year, even through snow! My mom has always had a pot of hen + chicks in her garden. Last year they were growing so well they were literally breaking the pot apart. Since my mom's supply was so abundant I stole a few for my own backyard garden. The plants have grown so well this year I have enough to sell at an upcoming antique show I'm vending at (plus some)!
In the top picture you can see I just re-potted a bunch of the tiniest babies out of the group to give them room to grow. The other picture is one of the largest "hens" from last year - just look how much its grown!
Happy Gardening! xo