Confession: I'm a bad houseplant mother!

Working on the new kitchen garden, and thinking about what to plant in the borders and grow in the raised beds, suddenly brought home to me how I'm still so neglectful of my poor houseplants.  Every plant in the house was dusty, most were dry and many badly needed re-potting.  I also consulted some of my houseplant books for advice on all of my plants, and found that a number of them really needed to be relocated to positions more suited to their needs.  So began three days of houseplant re-potting, cleaning, trimming and, for some, relocating.  Although I didn't photograph all of my plant family, I did take "before" and "after" shots of some of the plants:  

I think this aspidistra, which lives in a corner of our bedroom, was by far the dustiest of them all...

...but all it took was a wipe with a dry cloth, followed by a damp one, for it to look so much better.

This monstera was living by the window of the guest bedroom but clearly wasn't overly happy there.

I gave it a radical trim, planted it in a larger pot along with a "moss" pole, and put it in the dining room in a much less bright position.  The "moss" pole is actually a plastic pole wrapped in coir.  It doesn't hold moisture like moss would but does provide a sturdy fixing point to tie plants to.

 

I had a really large jade plant but it died soon after we moved up here.  I really thought this one was going to go the same way, to be honest!

It had got really spindly but looks much better now that I've cut it right back.  I can't remember where I actually got this plant from.  For some reason I had it in my mind that this had been a cutting from the jade plant that didn't survive, which was a crassula ovata, but the leaves on this one seem rather different.  It looks like it might be a ripple jade but who knows LOL 

This pair were on our bedroom windowsill...

...I'm amazed that they have survived at all...

...let alone be producing babies!

I've re-potted them both but decided not to separate the babies until next year.

This anthurium also lived near the window in the guest bedroom for quite some time.  I noticed that it wasn't doing well, with the leaves turning brown and crispy.  Turns out it doesn't like direct sunlight so I put it in the window of the upstairs bathroom.  It's still facing the same direction but the window has obscured glass and a net curtain, which cuts down the sunlight somewhat.

I cut off quite a lot of the leaves after re-potting and it looked much better.

It was obviously much happier in the bathroom even before re-potting and trimming as it is producing a "flower" ~ which is, apparently, a waxy, modified leaf rather than a flower.

I debated long and hard over whether or not to share this terrible photo with you ~ oh, the shame!  I had two of these on our bedroom windowsill, one of which was completely dead...

...but look, this one was just about clinging to life!  I cut the top off and was encouraged by the sight of sap leaking from the wound.  I made sure to wear gloves when I was handling this one.  To be honest, I've always been reluctant and somewhat nervous to grow euphorbia because of the toxic sap but I guess it's just a case of being careful and keeping the plants away from children and pets.   I still don't think I will be growing any outdoor varieties in my garden, though.

Although I was embarrassed about sharing my euphorbia photo, this poor neglected plant is the one I feel most shameful about ~ but in the interests of honesty, decided to share its fate too.  It is monstera obliqua "Monkey Mask", a smaller cousin of the monstera deliciosa (Swiss cheese plant) further up the page.    

Thankfully I spotted these two teeny-weeny leaves at the base of the dead and dying stems, so was able to cut the plant right back and hopefully save it.  It too now has a coir "moss" pole and if it does indeed thrive-and-survive, I may well add some kind of obelisk as additional growing support.  It had been living on one of our living room windowsills, which was a far too bright and sunny position.  I now have it in our kitchen where it is getting a much more indirect light-source from the roof window.

By the time I had finished my mammoth three day save-the-houseplants campaign, the potting shed was in chaos!

Thankfully it didn't take too long to clear up in there and return it to it's former neat and tidy appearance 😉

You may well have noticed that most of the plants have been re-potted into pots that are perhaps larger than necessary.  I do actually have quite a collection of various size pots but as is often the case it seems, very few were actually the size I was really looking for!  I confess that I also didn't have any "houseplant" compost, so they have all been re-potted using the same compost we bought in for the raised beds in the kitchen garden ~ beggars can't be choosers, eh!  I have to say that thus far my little houseplant family all seem to be looking really happy ~ even if their new pots are a bit big and the growing medium isn't specifically for indoor plants 😊

I'm planning on doing a photographic inventory of all my houseplants over the next few days, so be prepared for a photo-heavy post 'cos you just know I will be sharing! 

More pottering.....

Adrian was a busy bee before his knee op and got the fence in the back garden stained.  Talking of his op, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that he had the stitches out yesterday ~ hard to believe that two weeks have gone by already!  All seems to be well and he is gradually increasing his walking.  Hopefully it won't be long before he can get out again on those long walks he so loves 😊

The wheelbarrow was in the garden when we moved in.  The wheel is bent over to one side, so it's not much use for its original purpose!  I got Adrian to drill some drainage holes in it, and I'm going to use it for spring bedding and bulbs this year.  I may plant it up permanently next year with little alpines.

I brought the bay tree with me from our old garden.  It has spent spring and summer in the corner between the wheelbarrow and garden chairs, but since the autumn winds have been creeping in I thought it best to move it somewhere a little more sheltered.  Last year I brought it into the sun porch but I don't think it really liked it in there.  The little erigerons around its base definitely didn't like being in the porch, and I thought I had lost them.  But they gradually forgave me and although they aren't as lush as when I planted them, they are improving all the time.

This galvanised water tank was in the roof space above the downstairs bathroom.  When the guys replaced the roof they took it out and I decided to keep it as I thought I could make use of it somewhere in the garden.  I was originally going to line it and make a nature pool, but I've decided instead to plant it with a small selection of herbs next spring.

I finally got round to emptying two of these pots.  They were filled with weeds and alchemilla mollis.  It took a fair bit of pulling and digging to get the soil and plants out of the pots ~ talk about pot-bound!  I love alchemilla mollis and have now got them planted in the garden where I think they will be much happier.  The remaining pot has got mint in it.  I am going to take it out of this pot and sink it into the garden in another one at some point, probably near the compost bins.

The fairy is sitting in what was a birdbath.  Unfortunately it got cracked, so I planted houseleeks in it.  It, too, came from our old house.  The houseleeks seem happy enough placed here.  I shall leave the other pots empty for now, but expect I will use them for seasonal bedding in due course.

This windowbox is outside the kitchen window.  The erigerons in here have been lovely all year and are still blooming like mad!  They are called "Sea of Blossoms" and they certainly live up to their name!

Not to be outdone by Adrian, I too have been a busy bee and the garden shed is now looking neat and tidy.  We had some vinyl flooring leftover from the craft and store rooms, so Adrian patched the pieces together and glued them to the shed floor a couple of months back.  It makes a much easier surface to keep clean than the wooden floor was.  There is now a battery-operated light fixed above the potting bench, too.  As you can see, there is a window in the shed but it is rather small.  Unfortunately this was the best place for the shelving unit, hence there being very few things stored on the shelf across the window!

Since I took these photos, we have now got a couple of tool hanging racks put up.  It's good to get the tools off the floor and safely coralled on the wall!  The cardboard stash in the corner is for mixing with the grass clippings in the compost bins.  The stool belonged to my Grandma ~ I think originally it was a kitchen chair that somehow lost it's back.  I crocheted the cover for it a few years ago.

I decided to give my potting bench a coat of paint, using Annie Sloan chalk paint in Primer Red.  It's the first time I've ever used chalk paint, and I really liked it ~ not least because no sanding or priming is required!  The lower shelves are dedicated to my houseplant sundries.  Although the bench has a nice aluminium top, I thought it prudent to get myself a potting tray in an attempt to keep mess to a minimum LOL  I decided to treat myself to a handmade wooden tray, rather than one made from plastic ~ I'm really pleased with it and my spick 'n' span gardening shed 😍