BELTANE VACATION/GOING TO POT

Week Four, April 2008




A PLANT LADY'S LIFE IN GEEKATOPIA

Happy Beltane! Hurray, I am on vacation this week! At least that’s what I was saying when I woke up on Monday morning - midway through the week things took a few unexpected turns however. More on that later.

Yes, plantladys do periodically take time off from their plant care routes - and what do they do with their hard-won days off? Bask on a beach in Maui? Fly off to Patagonia? Catch some fly fishing in British Columbia? Sleep around the clock? I can’t speak for all plant care professionals but when I manage to break away from paid plants I head for my poor neglected back garden to catch up on seasonal tasks.

Spring is dragging its feet this year. The lilacs are in tight bud whereas usually by May 1 the blossoms are nearly spent. Only the quack grass is thriving. Three weeks ago I planted sun flowers and corn - they are not up yet and I imagine the seeds rotted before germination when we were treated to a freak snow storm on April 19 (Yes, on Byron’s Death Day - how typical of Byron to be theatrical.).

The garden vacation started smoothly. I gathered together implements of the craft - rakes, weeder, hoe and shovel, pruners and lopers, twine, mallet for driving stakes, and my favorite Japanese bamboo saw. The battle was on! I trundled the bulky yard waste bin down the side of the house to the back garden and began grubbing out unwanted plant life.

Ten minutes later I was running for the house chased by a torrential downpour. Thunder rumbled in the budding trees and the very earth trembled. Here we go again, said I to myself. Where is all that “global warming” stuff when you can really use it?

The rain passed as quickly as it came and soon I was slogging around in the mud, happy as a pig in . . . well, slop actually. By dusk I had filled the yard waste bin and three huge paper yard waste bags with discarded perennials, prunings and weeds. It was a very good day but I was only half way down my “To Do” list. Tuesday and wednesday were a continuation of Monday except that the daily showers graciously held off until I collapsed each evening, allowing me to cruise through the projects relatively mud-free.

I should have known it couldn’t last - things sort of went sideways on thursday when I had to stop everything and help a loved one move out of his apartment (“Bad breakup” - haven’t we all been there? Absolutely.).

Then friday morning my boss pulled me in off vacation because my wonderful new partner, Molly (who had been doing a super job covering our route all by herself during my absence) was bitten by a giant dog (See my blog on route dogs - the culprit was Oz, the dog I didn’t think would bite. Wrong!). Our poor dear Molly! I just hope she doesn’t decide that plant care is too dangerous a job - wouldn’t blame her if she gave up the plantlady gig for something less hazardous, such as smoke jumping or underwater demolition. So much for the vacation!

OFFICE PLANT CARE TIP: The Repot

People always ask me about repotting their plants. Let me say that usually it is not necessary to repot a new plant. Most plants can live happily in the same old pot for years. But if your plant is sending roots out the bottom drain holes then it might be time to resoil it. Today I am repotting my 100 year old xmas cactus (see January Christmas Cactus blog post) which has been in the same pot for the last dozen years. Here’s the scoop (of soil):

1. Loosen the plant by running a knife around the sides of the pot - turn the pot on its side and gently slide the plant out.

2. If the plant is going back into its old pot, cut some of the roots off the bottom and sides of the root ball to allow for fresh soil. If you are going to use a bigger pot, score or loosen the roots so that they will grow outward into the new soil.

3. Do not go larger than one size up from the pot the plant has been growing in - pots are measured across the top, sizes going up in 2 inch increments (usually) - in other words, if your plant is in a 6 inch pot you don’t want to go any larger than an 8 inch pot. If the pot is too big the new soil will stay wet leaving your plant open to an untimely death by root rot.

4. Next, if you are using a terra-cotta pot as I am for the xmas cactus, place a pot shard over the drain hole to keep the soil from washing out the bottom - but make it a curved shard so water can drain (Under NO circumstances use a pot that hasn’t any drain holes! If you want to use a sealed decorative container ((We in the business call them “decos”)), pot up your plant in a plastic pot smaller than the deco and set it down into the deco. You may cover the rim with moss to hide the plastic pot rim. That way if you over-water you can pull the pot out of the deco and remove excess water - your plant will not have to sit in a stinky rotty swamp.)

5. Now put a layer of fresh potting soil in the bottom of the pot (an inch or so depending on the size of the pot). Set the plant on the fresh soil. The top of the root ball should be slightly below the rim of the pot (Otherwise when you water you’ll make a muddy mess all over the mahogany credenza and your fluffy white carpet). The root ball should be at the same level it was in the old pot - don’t bury the poor thing in mounds of smothering soil.


6. Next, pack fresh soil down the sides of the pot, tamping the soil firmly to eliminate air pockets (you may want to use a chop stick or the end of a wooden spoon). Almost finished! Lastly, water thoroughly until water comes out the bottom drain holes - repeat just to ensure the entire root ball is moistened. Let the pot drain. You’re done!!

Oh, one other thing: don’t fertilize you newly repotted plant for the first few months. It will be pretty stressed out as it settles into its new digs - stressed out plants only get more stressed when fed before they have nice new roots.