Two new things happened in my sign of the zodiac after I move from a perennially mild climate to a cold and snow-covered mood : boot tray and winter houseplant . slews of overwintered houseplant .
In fact , they ’re not even houseplants in the mother wit of peace lilies or female parent - in - natural law ’s natural language ( abject - light varieties that hold out inside all year ) , but plants like bloody dock . And raft . And lemongrass . They ’re works that moved with us to Oregon after we dug them out of our California garden , and they ’ve been hibernating in a gay windowpane for the past few month , await patiently for the rime to exit .
( And , um , that could be a while … I ’ve heard stories of frost bump in June here ! )
We had so many plant life to overwinter that it was a challenge to happen a spot for them inside our mansion , as the only rooms with full southern exposure were our bedrooms . We ended up clearing the tops of our dressers and bookcase so we could line up all the plants against the windows , and usedthese fabric pots from Root Pouchwhen we divide and repotted them .
The Root Pouches are lightweight and easy to bring up and move with their built - in grip . The fabric earmark for a breathable develop environment and prevents roots from circling the perimeter of the pots ( a trouble seen in root - bound plants ) . alternatively , the material makes the ancestor send out out even more unexampled roots , take shape a dense , fibrous ascendant system and an overall healthier plant .
We expend their non - degradable Boxer air so we can keep our plants in them for a few year without worry of the framework disintegrate . We have mint of them in different sizes , but find the smaller sizes ( between1 gallonand3 gallons ) to be the most pragmatic for overwintering our herb .
The only thing that mix up us was figuring out how to protect the surfaces of our article of furniture from wet . We could site single saucer under each pot , but they presented a potential risk of overflow . We also needed the flexibility of clustering several plants and seeded can in the windowpane come spring , and did not need to buy dozens of saucers .
While surveying what we had in the family that could double as drip tray ( baking sheets , charge card seed starting trays … ) , my eyes land on our front door , or more specifically , what wasnextto our front door . Our boot tray !
We have thisbeautiful embossed boot tray with a copper - color finish . It ’s refined , long-lived , and most importantly , watertight . We in reality have a few of them now : one is still being used for its intended aim ( corralling our muddy shoes ) , one is in our bedroom , and two more are in the invitee elbow room .
These metal boot trays been the perfect solution for our drainage issue and I get laid how various they are once our works move alfresco . I can see them being useful for prune or repotting humble plants in the house , or keeping spills from our dog ’s water bowl off the carpet . They can also be filled with river stones and a little piddle to create a humidness tray for fussy plant life . As the pee evaporates , it increase humidity around the plant ; the I. F. Stone keep the pots lifted and away from a pool of water .
The coppery metal is definitely one of the more attractive options out there for a boot tray . ( These are similarto what we have , and they come in more pattern . ) We have a more utilitarianplastic boot tray with a drainage gridin our clay room , and while it can handle plenty of puddles , it ’s not something I ’d desire to have on display .
I know it is n’t a innovational idea to repurpose a charge tray for houseplants , but sometimes the good solutions are the simplest 1 . Are you overwintering any plants in the house ? What do you normally bring in ?
