No school, doing the needful

Day off warrants a good cleaning of all sorts. I feel a little awkward admitting to have tossed the California alocasia after having said what a pretty, tropical addition it was to the garden. I couldn't get a handle on its culture-- at times it seemed to have been burnt by the sun and new growth seemed to rot when in the shade. Gone.

I am in the process of 'renovating' macho fern. I pulled it out of it's current butt-ugly cheap pot it was in, where it had done spectacularly and have cut roots beginning to bind top and taking off rather compacted, sandy soil from bottom. I pulled a bromeliad from the underneath the blood orange, too crowed, and the soil was sandy there too. It occurred to me that if organic matter, at least some mulch, wasn't added to the soil every so often, the humus part of the potting medium would be washed away, leaving more sand than soil.. mm. I amended the soil with some Plant Tone organic fertilizer and some potting soil that has a high humus content. Then mulched. I mulched a number of other pots as well.

[later in pm]

 Repotted macho, put in place a little further away from the potato tree so potato can get plenty of air and sun on all sides.  I can't say enough about this wonderful fern.

[Family: polypodiaceae Genus: nephrolepis Species: biserrata Cultivar: Macho]

Bought some handsome pavers and elevated handrail rectangular planters to ensure easy drainage, the spout had been getting clogged and they weren't draining. Raised bamboo, potato, bougainvillea on east wall as well. I want to lift everyone off the terrace floor eventually-  much cleaner, less white fly, more air under plants, etc.

Darkest before the dawn

I'm going to cut an inconspicuous branch off of potato tree-- I want new growth on the tree and I want to try propagating from cutting.