Well Planted

I am well planted or situated in my home. My plants, on the other hand, are not doing so well. My luck with plants has been hit or miss. I had an apartment in the city that my plants loved. They were so lush that I started to believe that I had a fool-proof green thumb. Lately, they have not been doing so well. Several have been on the verge of dying for a while now. Here is what some of them looked like.

For several months I have been thinking about re-potting my plants to see if they would do better. You can tell that they need it when the roots look like this.

Then, last week, I saw this post about a terrarium. I really like terrariums and I had just the jar for one. I decided to make one and take care of my struggling plants while I was at it. The first step was a trip to the local nursery. When I was young my cousins had a nursery. Plumline Nursery in Murraysville, PA, in case you were wondering. I used to love to go there, but I could never figure out where all of the children were. I have since learned that there while some nurseries care for children, some only have plants. I still enjoy visiting them, and this time was no different. I spent way too much money! I bought a couple of succulents for my terrarium, an aloe plant, several pots, potting soil and some bulbs for the yard. I am pleased with my terrarium. I need some gnomes to put in it now!

Once home, I put the pots for the other plants in water to soak. It is important to soak terracotta pots before putting plants in them because the clay can leach water from the soil and cause the plants to dry out. I then began the process of trimming the dead leaves off of the plants and determining if they need a new pot. Even the plants that did not get a new pot received new dirt. This should improve their health.

Most of my pictures are not very good because I was doing this at night. Therefore, many of the pictures look yellow. I will take some pictures in the daylight and post an update.

I still have to decide where the plants are going to go as well. Currently they are sitting in the dining room waiting for a home.

The big plant on the right is the only one that has been doing well all along, despite the attacks from the kitty that it receives regularly. It did receive new dirt, which of course the cat promptly used as a litter box. Arg!

Happy Homemaking!