I am lucky

The weather changed today. It's been raining most of the day with temps now in the 40's. Good thing I worked as fast as I did on my plants. Thankfully they're all in the garage except for two giant ferns I haven't finished with. Now comes the task of moving them inside to the available window space. I've got tables set up in the basement under grow lights. Whatever I can't fit around the house, goes down there.

Staging area for repotting plants

My plants have become so large that it takes a gargantuan effort to repot them. I've already used 6 cubic feet of Miracle Grow Potting soil and had to purchase a number of 12"-21" pots just to fit the larger ones. I got the "King Tut" papyrus when it was 3 feet tall in the beginning of the summer. See it in the middle picture. It stands probably 10 feet now. The ferns and spider plants are enormous as are the asparagus ferns. I use a dolly to move them around. And I'm still not done. Have spent 3 days already and am just trying to beat any cold snap that might occur at any time.

Difficult time of year

This is a very difficult time of year. Temperatures are fluctuating between cool and warm and hot to cold. And we're going from air conditioning to heat and then back again. I can't work fast enough re potting. It's so time consuming. You have to find the right size pot to reestablish your plant. Spray for bugs. Water. Acclimate and then move into the house and find the right location. I've been working on the small plants for awhile. Have to start tackling the bigger ones now. A cold snap is predicted. It's beautiful, sunny and cool right today. Better get busy.

Fence Lines

October 1st, 2007

So hard to believe that it's Fall. It's still 87 degrees during the day. At least not so humid. I've set up a table on the screened in porch to start working on the smaller plants to get them ready to bring inside. I have some Neem Oil to spray on the leaves and some insecticide to put on the soil. Then the really tough stuff has to be done. Moving the big, heavy plants to the porch and washing them down and doing any transplanting. It's 59 degrees now, but it's 1am. The temp can change on a dime though, so there's a lot of pressure now to work on it everyday. Then the really big stuff starts. All the moving and hauling inside. Today is the first time since the beginning of summer that I felt like working outside. I finally got the smaller mums in the ground and did some more watering. The ground is like cement and lots of leaves have fallen from lack of water.