Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to talk about repotting. You may remember me from such posts as “Smoke, Stripes, And Glowing Eyes”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
The sky got all dark, and there was thunder. It even rained for about three seconds.
I was afraid we might have a downpour like we did yesterday.
This was our downpour yesterday:
Anyway, I talked a bit about repotting seedlings yesterday, but there was a lot more of this today.
Sometimes this is called potting up or pricking out, but since the seedlings go into a larger pot, the guy I live with calls it repotting.
First he did a bunch of penstemons (Penstemon eatonii and P. cardinalis), then he did the horsetail milkweed, Asclepias subvertillaris.
The guy I live with saves cottage cheese containers just for this purpose.
He also says that it’s easier to separate the roots of the seedlings when the soil mix is dry.
The seedpots are surfaced with what they call “squeegee” for some reason (I’ve talked about this before). The squeegee keeps the soil-less mix from being washed out when the pots are watered, and also helps keep the seedlings more or less upright.
And here they are. These will need to be watered every day that it doesn’t rain.
In other words, they’ll need to be watered every day.
You can see the almost-empty bag of squeegee in this picture.
The guy I live with’s wife made these shelves just for the purpose of raising seedlings outdoors. The wire mesh and chicken wire keep squirrels out, but in the winter the guy I live with has to add some window screen, to keep mice out.
The guy I live with said that if this were a “normal” August he would be thinking about planting out the seedlings, but it’s been so hot and dry that’s not going to happen.
I’m not sure what he means by “normal”.
I couldn’t believe this intense burst of energy while it was so hot. He worked really fast.
I kind of looked at him, and he said “Repot Man’s always intense”.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Gee, that is not much of a downpour. Yes, I see why watering will be necessary every day.
Almost every day, yes.
You got a bigger downpour than we did…I think I counted 6 teeny tiny drops. One of them may have been a poly poly though.
It’s too hot IMO to contemplate dividing, repotting or anything else garden related. We’ll continue to hope for rain but don’t think it’s gonna show up any time soon.
The guy I live with has been hoping for a drenching rain. Like almost everyone else around here.
The little seedlings should have been repotted last month, but the guy I live with forgot to do that. The bigger they are before they get planted into the garden, the better.
Of course once the seedlings are planted, maybe at the end of next month, they’ll still have to be watered.
Nice potting area. I need to try Horsetail milkweed. The foliage would be a nice difference. I added Antelope Horn this year and I guess lolling on the ground is its natural habit.
Not a single oleander aphid visible to me this year. Usually the milkweeds are just covered in them. Seems strange, but maybe some years are like that.
Thanks. After the guy I live with built the shed with his wife, she went kind of crazy building things. The arbors, gates, the enclosure, all the shelves on the patio. That’s just the stuff outside.
This is certainly a weird year. We don’t have as many Japanese beetles as we did last year, and fortunately, no infestation of grasshoppers.
You can get horsetail milkweed from Western Native Seed. The guy I live with has been ordering from them for a long time.
I was happy to discover Western Native Seed due to one of your posts earlier this season, and got some Penstemon seeds from them. Thanks.
You’re welcome. The guy I live with says Alplains has a bunch of penstemon seed too. As well as tons of other stuff.
And by the way, sometimes older penstemon seed germinates better than freshly-collected seed.
YIKESS! Yore weather iss ‘goin to pot’ as THE old saying goess Mani an Guy! Today wee are having lengthy an nice rain….no Funder or Lghtning; just rain. Wee tried to send it to youss’; butt it won’t go! Guy yu are furry inndustrious to do all that ree-potting….BellaSita Mum red yore “Reepot Man” commint as “Reepo Man”….mew mew mew….
**nose bopss** BellaDharma an **giggelss** BellaSita Mum
So she got it…
No rain for us, but they maybe maybe this weekend. The guy I live with remains dubious.
Wee hope youss’ get rain butt are ‘due-bee-uss ‘ two Mani!
Thanks. Dubious is right.
Wee gotted more rain…iss so hue-mid out an damp an UCKY Mani an Guy!!! **sighss**