Monday, January 08, 2007

January Thaw?

Well, joining the chorus of 70 degree temperatures (we broke the record Saturday by one degree), I had an enjoyable weekend. It started by Zeppe waking me up. He can be particularly insistant when clunking around in his aquarium. I got up and was telling him how it wasn't that warm out yet, since I'm used to working up to warm temperatures in winter. But when I opened the sliding glass door, it was already in the 60s at 10 am!

So, I got off my duff and started doing fall cleaning chores. Yes, a bit late, I know. First was airing out the house. Then, I moved on to taking down the Christmas tree. Half of the branches got cut very small and put into the turtle aquarium. The other half were split between the hydrangea and the rhododendron. Gotta naturally mulch those acid loving plants. There's still some Christmas tree left in the stand, but I was already covered with sap by then.

Next up, was planting a few potted plants that I had neglected in fall. The chrysanthemum and a few last lilytufts went in the dirt. Lots of wriggly worms moving about too, so the turtles got a treat. Well, except for Zeppe who was roaming about and was more interested in the screen door than eating.

Then, I threw more mulch on the early daffodils, and moved inside. I repotted my newest hibiscus and a philodendron and an angelwing begonia. Aside from being potbound, they were in that horrible store soil that dries out immediately. Yuck.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Don't you really wonder what they put in that soil to make it so instantly bricklike? I swear that it's a challenge just to make you either a) come back for real potting soil, or b) come back to replace your plant when it dies!

millionbells said...

I understand the reasoning, given the watering regime at most nurseries and home supply stores. If it didn't drain instantly, those poor plants would drown.

But that doesn't make it any better. I'd prefer not to have to repot my plants as soon as I buy them.