Friday, October 10, 2014

In From The Great Outdoors

Every spring I bring most of my house plants outside so they can enjoy the nice weather. For several months they enjoy the hot, humid summer temperatures, then in October when I open my monthly tickler file there's a reminder that I need to bring them in for the winter.  Today I got around to doing it.

I want the plants inside, but any bugs they might have picked up in the great outdoors aren't welcome in the house.  In order to get rid of anything that might be living in he plants, I soak the pots in slightly soapy water for 20 minutes.  The job should have been done earlier in the month, but it takes a while and I haven't have a large chunk of time until now.  Thankfully the weather's been relatively mild, with no temperatures cool enough to harm the plants.

After breakfast was cleaned up, I filled both sides of my sink with soapy water and got to work.  Because I had to repeat the process several times the entire job took a couple of hours.  The first cycle contained all the small plants.  The bigger plants went in the next rounds; only one pot fit in each side of the sink.  When I was done the draining plants filled up both sides of the kitchen counter.

This year nothing dramatic happened. I had to brush off a couple of spider webs from the underside of pots. No actual critters, though.  Once, several years ago I disturbed a colony of sow bugs living in a plant's soil, and they streamed from the pot when I placed it in the soapy liquid.

Some of the plants overwinter in the master bathroom, which is still a work in progress, so right now everything is crowded together on the kitchen window seat.  The cats approve.

Five years ago today: Very Vegetal

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