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Gah, gah, gardening...
Apr. 15th, 2007 04:58 pmGorgeously lovely day, and all my chilli-seedlings were ready for their repottings now, so I thought I'd do that this afternoon. Out into the yard I went, then, and let Barry come with me, because I could keep an eye on him out there; and he was good as gold, sniffing around, finding hidey-holes and playing with the earthworms.
And I repotted my eighteen heroic survivors, and that didn't go so well, to be honest, because half of them their rootballs pretty much disintegrated as they came out of the little pots, and chillies do hate having their roots disturbed. Just as chilli-seeds do like a loose earth to root into. You will see that these two contrary positions make repotting complicated, but this year was particularly bad; I've firmed them in as best I can, but I'm not sure how many will survive the shock of transfer.
But the other thing, I brought some of them back in to go on windowsills, and I was in the house for one minute and then out again, and yup - you know what I'm going to say, don't you? Barry was over the wall in that one minute, and into the neighbour's yard. He came back soon enough, to the temptation of catnip treats, but it raises all my old problems again. Either I don't let him out at all now, or else I just have to let him roam. And he's been so desperate to be out, ever since the weather turned warm, I'm not sure how long I can take the pressure of playing prison warder. It's no fun at all, for either one of us. All my friends think I should just let him come and go at will - which conspicuously works for them, with their cats - but... Cars! Dogs! People...!
And now I'm trying to find window-space for all my little chillies, and - given that I have also to leave window-space for Barry - it's not going to be possible, if they all survive. I'm leaving half a dozen outside, in hopes that global warming may have its due effect, and even so I can't fit 'em all onto south-facing sills. I did clear the little one down in the cupboard under the stairs, but as soon as I'd done that, guess who co-opted it...?
And I repotted my eighteen heroic survivors, and that didn't go so well, to be honest, because half of them their rootballs pretty much disintegrated as they came out of the little pots, and chillies do hate having their roots disturbed. Just as chilli-seeds do like a loose earth to root into. You will see that these two contrary positions make repotting complicated, but this year was particularly bad; I've firmed them in as best I can, but I'm not sure how many will survive the shock of transfer.
But the other thing, I brought some of them back in to go on windowsills, and I was in the house for one minute and then out again, and yup - you know what I'm going to say, don't you? Barry was over the wall in that one minute, and into the neighbour's yard. He came back soon enough, to the temptation of catnip treats, but it raises all my old problems again. Either I don't let him out at all now, or else I just have to let him roam. And he's been so desperate to be out, ever since the weather turned warm, I'm not sure how long I can take the pressure of playing prison warder. It's no fun at all, for either one of us. All my friends think I should just let him come and go at will - which conspicuously works for them, with their cats - but... Cars! Dogs! People...!
And now I'm trying to find window-space for all my little chillies, and - given that I have also to leave window-space for Barry - it's not going to be possible, if they all survive. I'm leaving half a dozen outside, in hopes that global warming may have its due effect, and even so I can't fit 'em all onto south-facing sills. I did clear the little one down in the cupboard under the stairs, but as soon as I'd done that, guess who co-opted it...?
