Packed

The Supertunia baskets are back in the greenhouse for one last revitalization before the inevitable end. I don't mean death, I mean severe pruning and transplanting to small pots for overwintering. I HOPE that isn't necessary before late October.

The baskets, particularly the four in the back yard, were getting lopsided from the wind and from reaching for the light. I fertilized them today and plan to prune them tomorrow. I don't know if all six will go back to the house at the same time, but I can envision rotating two at a time at our front door, weather permitting.

With 16 baskets hanging from the rafters (six big tunias, two small tunias, four strawberries, two cucumbers, two sedum), it is getting dark in there. If the two geranium baskets currently hanging outside on the west wall have to come inside, they will have to sit on the floor because there are no more hooks. Lows in the 40s are becoming more frequent, but we are projected to avoid the 30s for the next two weeks or so. When the 30s threaten, I will have to find room for the three 2025 petunia pots, two tomato grow bags and two pepper grow bags. And the geraniums. (I don't care about the three underperforming strawberry grow bags.) I have moved a lot of the tender succulents back to the house already to free up space on the bench on the north wall.

This spring I installed three shelves above the bench, but the shelves were too close together for the plants on the two lower shelves to get much light. I bit the bullet today and removed the middle shelf, and the sunlight now reaches all of the lower shelf. That is, if there aren't tunia baskets blocking the sun. I might raise the bottom shelf a notch to give a little bit more light to the aloe and Thanksgiving Cactus that usually sit at the back of the bench.