Tag: transplant

Since our last post, we have repotted EVERY container plant we have in the backyard– and most of the houseplants too. We are seeing an improvement in the health of our little succulents as they have a better draining soil to stretch out their roots in- we found that our old soil had compacted to dirt mush and most of the 2” succulents were becoming root bound and sitting in some water- due to the rain we have been getting and less sunny days to dry up all that water.

In an attempt to fight the rain gods from killing all of the plants, we have moved our favorites and the most sensitive varieties into the greenhouse to best protect them… Brett always laughs at how much I try to fit into our greenhouse (because all of them are my favorite)– but stuffing is never good- it leads to less air circulation & less light being able to reach all plants. It is time for us to increase our growable space.

We are finding that we are going to need to change our attack plan for keeping the succulents protected this winter– Initially we figured our small greenhouse would house MOST everything and whatever didn’t fit would be kept in a sunny, rocked area in the yard —  we realize, it’s not going to house them all… SO, we are going to build a greenhouse structure in our side yard that can fit all of our temperature sensitive plants– the spot is already cleaned out and set-up as a dog run from previous renters, so the prep is easy, now to gather supplies and do the build.

What happens if the greenhouse doesn’t keep your succulents warm this winter you ask?? Firstly, we learned that we own many varieties of succulents that CAN survive the colder winter temperatures and have separated them from the rest of the flock as the “outdoor troopers”. These include our sempervivums, sedums, and stonecrop varieties. The most tender succulents will be brought indoors to be grown under our LED light system in the garage– that way we will reduce casualties overall should that fate come and winter is a beast… My fingers are crossed this will not be the case!

For the greenhouse build, we plan to use PVC pipes and a transparent 4-6 mil. thick polyethylene. Sounds good, eh?? Well, it always looks good on paper— Stay tuned to see what worked and our final result.

What are you doing to prepare your plants for winter? Let us know below.