All posts in category Gardens & plants

Container Plants – Your Easter Egg Search is Over

Making new plants from cuttings was a subject of a previous post. Containers can become very heavy if they are 100% soil filled. How to avoid backstrain from the usual garden chores? Follow the Easter Bunny’s trail and use plastic eggs as pot liners. Now is the time to get them cheap, marked down 50-75%. They are reusable and store easily. The two-piece plastic eggs also are favorite toys of the scrounge cats.

Plastic eggs line bottom of pot

Yeah, I know my potting bench is a mess. The coleus have rooted and so are ready for a container.

Rooted cuttings

Roots are visible

Inserting into potting soil

Finished container

The coleus will fill the bare spots within a month. Lightweight, well drained containers with do it yourself plants. Got the egg packages at $0.13, marked down from $1.20. Perfect scrounge!

Coleus Emerges from Winter Doldrums – How to Recycle Plants for a Cheap Spring

Although the temperatures have been in the 80s this past week, April means Spring is here. After cleaning up flood debris, now it is time to move housebound plants to the outdoors. Last fall I rooted cuttings from the coleus in the hanging baskets. The cuttings grew to small plants over the winter, however by March the coleus were getting leggy. Even south facing windows don’t provide adequate light for growth, the plants just hang on til warmer weather arrives. Once outdoors, the coleus respond to the sunlight. It’s time to make new plants from the winter survivors.

Coleus, potting mix, and toad. He liked the airy, damp mixture of vermiculite, perlite, and spagnum moss.

Make sure the potting mix is damp before inserting the cuttings.

Leggy coleus - just hangin' on for Spring

Trimming coleus - only two or three leaf pairs are needed for cuttings. Remove leaves at the "joint"

Cut at leaf joint. Roots will grow from the joint.

The final shot is a completed six pack. I am the scroungelady, so I recycle packs from garden centers. Keep the potting mix moist and place the pots/packs where they’ll get morning sun. These are part shade coleus. Plants should root in two weeks. Then pot up the new plants in containers. I like to use them in hanging baskets or large planters. Begonia cuttings in a future post.

by scroungelady on April 2, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Gardens & plants

Tagged coleus, cuttings, perlite, potting mix, spagnum moss, vermiculite

Posted by scroungelady on April 2, 2012

https://southernfoodscrounge.com/2012/04/02/coleus-emerges-from-winter-doldrums-how-to-recycle-plants-for-a-cheap-spring/

Pine Belt Flood – Ready to Scrounge?

This is a blog about food, gardening, motorcycles, cat parenting and such but sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control. Take rain for example. Rainfall amounts of 3-7″ over the three days will bring on the floodwaters. For the past two days the cats and I have been confined to the house and deck. The Mr. has canoed to the paved road, about 1/8 mile to the pavement where our vehicles are parked. From there he drives 20 miles to work. This is the scene about 9AM Thursday:

Concrete pad under house, 9AM

Water is near concrete pad level, 9AM. Creek is just visible in the background. Normally the creek is 8 feet below the concrete pad level.

Parking area in front of house, 9AM

Floodwaters are close but not over the pad below our house. By 11AM water is nearly over the concrete pad.

Patio facing creek, 11AM

Front of house, 11AM

By 1PM, floodwaters had breached “ground level”.

Concrete pad under house, 1PM. Shop is in left corner of photo.

Looking toward front of house, 1PM.

Front drive, full flood mode, 3PM.

Concrete pad under the house, 3PM. Photo taken from stairs. We learned not to walk in flood water – snakes, fire ants, and other nasty things floating past you.

Concrete pad under house, looking toward creek, 3PM. Plant rack on the right is a three shelf unit. Only plants on the top shelf were left on the rack.

Mr. Mike, the cats and I are fine. So are the motorcycles and plants. Fortunately we are well stocked with beer, pretzels, and kitty litter. Despite all this we love life on the creek.

southernfoodscrounge

All posts in category Gardens & plants

Container Plants – Your Easter Egg Search is Over

Coleus Emerges from Winter Doldrums – How to Recycle Plants for a Cheap Spring

Pine Belt Flood – Ready to Scrounge?

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