But, plants! Plants barely need any attention at all. They never poop. They purify the air instead of stinking it up. They only need water about once a week (or, if you're a plant living at my house, about once every two weeks, or once you start banging on death's door, whichever comes second). They don't make noise. They don't barf on the rug. They don't chew on the furniture. They are nothing but respectful, quiet and nonobtrusive. Plus, they're pretty.
Anyway. Enough about my undying love for the flora of the world. Brace yourself for some truly mediocre photos; my camera was acting like a turd, and I can barely be bothered lately to take photos of even my own children, much less plants while I'm in the middle of a project. But whatever; here's what I was facing: a key lime plant striving to live up to its full potential, and a giant basket that forced me out of my complacency about it.
I've had this key lime plant for about seven years now. I bought it for $5 at a moving sale, and it was root-bound in its pot at the time I bought it. So I've known for years that it's needed a bigger pot, but I've been too skittish (and broke) to transplant it. So I just squirreled away the ugly plastic pot inside a cotton basket and ignored the problem.
The ugly old pot was also getting brittle, so every time I picked it up to move it, huge shards of plastic would crack off. This pot used to have a wide lip around the top, but no more.
I would like to tell you that I finally had enough compassion on this plant to declare that enough was enough, and that was what motivated me to finally transplant it, but sadly, no. I simply needed the pretty cotton basket elsewhere, and I didn't like looking at the vulnerable nakedness of this pathetic little guy. So, I bought an ambitious new basket, and spray painted (and added drainage holes to) an old laundry soap bucket. (Yes, we buy our laundry soap in five-gallon buckets. You can't possibly be surprised.)
I'm stingy with my spray paint, since it's not free and I'm not a McDuck. So I only sprayed the parts that might possibly be seen from the top of the basket.
Transplant surgery was messy, but the little guy seems to have pulled through okay. (Though only time can tell with transplanting, and I really should have done this in the spring rather than the fall in order to give the plant the highest odds, but I really only do things when I feel like it, and I didn't feel like doing it in the spring.) Please be praying he makes a full recovery; I'm really rather partial to him, mostly because he only cost me five bucks, but partly because he sometimes actually grows me microscopic key limes. Adorable.
See how brittle the pot was? I literally just ripped it off the root ball in sheets.
I can hear his sigh of relief from here, can't you?
I always take most of my houseplants outside over the summer to revive them and attempt to give them a running start at surviving our dark, dark house through the winter time. This plant was outside from early April until just this week, so I'm hoping he'll be happy back in his old home next to the window, but in his new bucket-pot.
In "We're Real People, Raising Six Kids" news, check out the monstrous hole in my couch! Also, the stain on the cushion!
Oh, don't mind me. I only went through the effort of taking photos, but refused to put forth the effort to make sure the blankets were straight, or to pick up anything off the floor. Because I like to keep things real. (Or, because I'm lazy.)
1 comment :
i much prefer flora to fauna
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