Prickly characters

I spent this afternoon re-potting and tending my cactus collection (or what's left of it). I'd kept most of them on the kichen windowsill, which is one of the warmest places in the house, and most seem to do well enough there. In the pic there are a couple of tall spiny ones which I think I may have known the proper name for at one time, as well as two more bushy-looking ones, one of which is labelled a Haworthia. And I've taken some cuttings from a three of the Opuntias: two had almost shrivelled to a dry shell and the third (sadly the biggest) had sagged badly in the middle and collapsed under its own weight. Whether they'll take root properly or not I don't know: I think it's usually better to try and wait until root hairs start to form before trying to pot cactus cuttings, but I suspect the tiny pads might shrivel completely before that happens.

My other big Opuntia is still alive and kicking on the other hand, although it, too has got very top heavy and unstable propped up in the corner of the kitchen windowsill. I've repotted it into a clay pot instead of a plastic one to try and give it a bit more stability. It's about 28" (71cm) high not counting the pot, and has grown four new pads in the four or five years that I've had it. I think it's tending to "bolt" a bit in the constant artificial light: if the weather's halfway decent this summer I'll pop it out on the balcony and give it some fresh air. The other two small cacti next to it seem to be doing OK, despite those awful Simpsons pots that they live in!

Rocks in my head?

With the return of some really nice warm weather today, I went and cleared out the rockery this afternoon. Like most of the rest of the garden it had become very overgrown, but underneath it all were the daffodils and hyacinths I'd planted I think three years ago from bulbs I'd bought from the supermarket as the indoor house variety. They've nearly all flowered, unlike the tulips of which only about three have sprouted foliage and mainly in the form of a solitary sad-looking leaf at that.

The real triumph is the succulent, which was a single small clump originally a few years back, and seems to just get bigger each year. I had some other bulbs and alpines in there as well at one time but none have survived and I don't honestly think it's very worthwhile trying to put something in to replace them but I may do if I come across something that takes my fancy.

Definitely shorts weather though - and it's funny but since I first wrote last week about how I never tend to wear them in public, I've taken to wearing them all the time now whenever I can! I feel a good deal less self-conscious about it, too, which I reckon is a good thing. So here I am: blue striped Adidas popper shorts, the black Converse boots I bought off eBay last week, and the spindly legs I've had forever!

Plant pots and potting plants

It's about time today, I thought, to get the succulents potted up and ready to go out on the balcony for the summer again. I'd bought them as house plants a few years ago, and while they're hardy enough to sit outdoors in the summer, I always bring them in to spend winter on the windowsill. I've got four left of the original eight or ten that I first accumulated - and one of those is an offshoot of its 'parent' which I got to take root on its own. They look a bit dry at the moment, as I have a nasty habit of killing off succulents through over-watering (which is quite probably why I've only got these few left). Nevertheless, I noticed as I tidied them up and cleaned out their pots that they seem to be thriving, especially the aloe which tried to bite me with its sharp spiny leaves as I was handling it. Its pot has a rather superfluous "harmful if eaten" label: I can't see how anyone would be tempted to even try, but I suppose with the all-pervasive obsession with Health & Safety somebody somewhere decided it was needed. Sheesh!