Pottering in the greenhouse

So after being enthralled with the signs of Spring in the garden I made it to the greenhouse and enjoyed some pottering around - the first of the year. But for a change there wasn't aimless pottering as I set out to achieve one thing that'd been bothering me for a while.  And that job was to tidy my Aloes.

I've mentioned before how promiscuous my succulents are and they're at it again. I have three pots in a row on my kitchen worktop and they've grown and grown and had lots of babies, and so it was time to sort them out.

*Stop sniggering, I'm being serious*

Aloe Vera on my potting bench

My backup plant had also had babies. And yes I have a backup plant on the off chance that any that I pot on don't survive.  Truth is I can't bear to put any of them in the compost heap.

aloe vera babies

That purchase at a Dorset County Fair was one of our best investments ever, for a couple of quid I've been kept in Aloe Vera plants ever since.  The mother plant is still going strong and I was surprised to see so many roots.

THE MOTHER PLANT WITH AN IMPRESSIVE ROOT SYSTEM

THE MOTHER PLANT WITH AN IMPRESSIVE ROOT SYSTEM

With all the baby plants separated, it was onto the potting up.

potting up
adding extra compost

First there was one:

one aloe vera

And then two:

two aloe veras

And a third:

three aloe veras

And then a few more, including the mother plant backup pot.

I had more roots than plant left when I'd finished with all the baby plants, so that pot with the label marker and seemingly nothing in has those roots, as I was interested to see if they'd continue growing.

more aloe vera plants

The mother plant which I also keep indoors seemed relieved and certainly looked to be enjoying the sun. 

aloe vera in the sun

And indoors, it was looking smarter too. While the newly potted plants have some growing to do, they're definitely an improvement on the before.

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

And that made me happy.  I'm also looking forward to much more pottering - it is the best thing to do, don't you think?

“TheGardenYear