Sitting tenants

 

Roots all the way down

It should have been a straightforward job.  Lift osteospermums from the big pot, and re-pot them; remove compost (or most of it) from the big pot; plant tulip bulbs in big pot; top up with fresh compost.  The osteospermums, however, had other ideas.

They were the progeny of a plant bought many years ago and left in place in the front garden (during a previous phase of the front garden’s design) for several years.  When that area was redeveloped, into a mostly gravelled area, the plant was lifted and cuttings taken, which became a staple of planting in various pots.  The flowers are white daisies with a dark ‘eye’ which open in sun, and very adaptable; they go with most other plants and this plant at least is, as osteospermums go, pretty hardy.  They are also easy to propagate, as the stems produce new roots where they touch the soil or compost.  And that, it seems, was the problem.

These ones had been put in the big pot at least two years ago, along with a previous set of tulip bulbs.  The bulbs had not survived, as tends to be the case with tulip bulbs, and last year I left the pot otherwise empty, with only the osteos in place.  And, after two years in the pot, with no competition, they had made themselves very much at home.

I tried to move them just by hand, unsuccessfully, then got the small hand fork out.  They still didn’t move.  I tried a trowel, but couldn’t get it into the mat of roots.  Normally as a last resort I would try upending the pot so that the contents, plant, compost and all, would fall out, but this pot is just too big.  In the end I had to rip the top growth out, and chip away at the matted compost below with the little fork.  The roots had gone right down to the bottom of the pot – who would have thought that such a small plant could make so much root?

Fortunately a lot of what I pulled up had roots attached, so I potted up four pieces and put them in the greenhouse to recover.  As much old compost as I could shake out went on to the new bed, to the robin’s delight; the tulips went in, and were covered with fresh compost – job done.

Job done

Mesembryanthemums are not as hardy as the osteos, and the sharp frost a couple of weeks back has seen off those sown in the gravel of one of the camellia pots; a pity, as they were just getting going.  I might try sowing direct into these pots again, either with more mesembryanthemums or another low-growing annual, but getting the seeds in earlier.  It’s a good place for a bit of colour!

Remains of the mesembryanthemums (and a few weeds)

The weather since the last post has been milder and damp (or downright wet) on the whole; there has been wind, but the worst of the weather passed us by.  Nothing very dramatic in the forecast, at the moment at least.