Frost tonight, jungle in the house

20 years ago

as the dusk deepened and my toes chilled in my boots I dug up all the tenders and dh toted in the pots.

I can't believe how many darn plants I have to deal with! And I acquired so many fewer than I usually do! Missed the swaps, NJBG closed, stopped trading by May, put myself on a strict mail-order budget, walked by the Home Depot cheapies and skipped the sales.

now I've got sills full of tattered plants, slug and deer nibbled, harboring millepedes and even entire nests of sugar ants I am sure. We actually lived in harmony with the sugar ants in the lime tree last winter - if we saw them on the floor it was time to sweep the floor - otherwise they stayed in the tree and tended the scale...might be smart to spray prophylactically this year...

Maybe I'll get them looking like proper house plants by Christmas. Maybe.

I'm so glad for cannas and fuchsias and salvias and figs that can just go dormant in the cold room and be ignored for five months.

Gardening. phooey.

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Comments (3)

Loretta NJ Z6
20 years ago
Ditto!
I do hate bringing in those buggy pots! First there are the cuttings to deal with, then the pots that I hope to repot to get rid of as many of those millipedes and pillbugs as possible. I know I should disinfect the pots but I won't. Then there are the plants that need to be dug up and potted and brought in. Then the ones that have to go dormant then cleaned and bagged. Then you start thinking do I really want to keep this plant and I will stick with hardy plants next year. Are the abutilons so great? How much did I spend on these? Oh yeah, maybe I should try to save them...
Actually, I don't spend a lot on any single plant, it just adds up.
I don't mind the work but it always coincides with raking leaves and Thanksgiving.
mprats
20 years ago
In effect we had our first frost here last night. The dahlias are all wimpy, I was really hoping to break a record and have dahlias by Thanksgiving! In any event, I am glad I got a couple of extra weeks of flowers, and at least the roses are still blooming!
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Loretta NJ Z6
20 years ago
Well already I see a few little nats flying around.