The backyard is still a hot mess, but I guess that topic is probably best relegated to a post of its own. My pachypodium saundersii compacta is coming out of hibernation now that it’s warming up (it literally went from a temperate 70 to 80 to 90+…). I kind of want to repot it, but I have heard that since it grows well in compact situations, not to overpot it. Most of our small to medium sized pots however are being used by other plants so it will probably just stay where it is for the time being.

I don’t have a picture, but I think my lithops got a bit sunburned this past week. I normally keep them under an overhang on one side of the house to make sure they are kept out of any rain that we have and also don’t get too much direct sunlight (this side of the house gets direct sun in the morning but is kept shaded during the afternoon heat). Because it has been super overcast in March and early April, I moved them to a different table to make sure they got enough sun. I had forgotten to move them back to their normal spot during the heatwave.

We have finally kinda sorta started a vegetable/herb garden in the form of planting food waste from stuff that we get at the grocery store to see if it will actually grow. The garlic and green onions are growing well so far, not too sure about the ginger as it hasn’t broken soil yet. I still need to weed and till the plot of land that I had set aside for a proper vegetable garden, but that project is going to require several trips to a hardware store/nursery (and now is not a great time to be doing that) so we’ll have to make due with what we have laying around the yard.

Here is a blurry pic of spider bro who gets MVP for eating and warding off all of the stupid aphids that were infesting some of the plants on this table. The cobwebs are a little unsightly but I, for one, welcome our arachnid guests so long as they are outside of the house.

My shipment of pumice and potting supplies finally came in. I am in the process of re-potting the Mesembs into a grittier mixture. The soil mixture that they are currently in is too dense and was mixed with perlite, which had all but floated to the top of the pot and blown away.

I had re-potted the lithops mentioned in my previous entry to survey any damage that resulted from the unseasonal amount of rain and rabbit munching. To my fortune, they do not appear to be as bad off as I had originally thought. Both the roots and plant body on the larger leaves look to be okay (no rot, fuzzy root growths, no mushy spots). One of the leaf sets looks dubious. But then again, they have looked dubious for over a year (pretty sure they are slow dying).

I am very very surprised that my lithops survived the rabbit apocalypse as the damage was quite severe. On a plus side, the new growths look healthy and are undamaged. Since I had left my plants out in the rain, their growth cycle is a little fucked up. Consequently, I cannot pot them with the new lithops that I had purchased last weekend. So for now (and probably ever), they will live in their own little pot.

I really need to find a relatively sunny rain sheltered place for all of my plants. We have a patio, but it’s a little too shady. I like working in the garden after work when it is light and not shitty outside, but in about 5 months, that’s probably going to change. Maybe build a plant thing? I would love to put some of my plants in a window but all sunny windows in the house are cat windows…