Saturday, April 5, 2014

De-cluttering - Week 14: Getting Potted

With Spring's arrival comes a little task I put off too long last year. I needed to plant my heritage tomato seeds.  I put it off so long last year that I only ended up with a few unripened tomatoes by the time the frost came back. I did my best to save the seeds, though I have no idea if they will germinate this year at all. That's a major shame since every one I planted last year germinated.

I went down to the basement to find a container to plant these few precious seeds in. What I found was a messy jumble of pots that had been taken to the basement and abandoned there. My basement is rather cool and I tend to avoid it, so these things can happen easily enough. But we're de-cluttering on these pages these days, so this looked like a job for this week.

First I sorted plastic pots into one pile and clay pots into another pile. Then I took them out to my gardening cupboard in the garage. If you were wondering why they didn't get put there in the first place, it was because there was too much stuff piled in front of that cabinet last fall.  Not my stuff, mind you!  And if you are wondering why I don't just throw them out, well, it's just about time to plant things, or give some perennials away, so I may need the pots.  If I am going to dispose of any, it will be after that time has past.

With the pots put away, that left the planters.  I cleaned out space in that cupboard in the background of the photograph to see if they would fit in there. The cupboard holds craft supplies, and matted photos left over from old art shows.

I got most of the planters to fit on the top shelf, and I'll de-clutter the bottom shelf some other day.  As I said, it's cold and damp down there, and I've had a bad cough for several weeks now, so I don't want to aggravate it.

I did use the Shop Vac to clean up the area though.  Then I used it to take care of a lot of spider webs and dead ladybugs.  After that I washed down the cupboard doors. I think I did pretty good, even if I didn't get rid of everything.  The frog planter will have a plant in it soon enough.  The green pot needs descaling. Our hard water has built up a lot of unsightly calcium along the bottom edge. I'll take care of that soon as I like that pot. It's one I painted myself.  It's sitting on a battery that my hubby promised to dispose of. So other than that, there is just the two other planters that are stacked together that don't have a home.  Oh, and the little tray of square ones that I've tucked beneath the edge of the cupboard. It tends to sit on my kitchen table where I can grow herbs or violets in those pots.  Right now my hoya has that spot as it will bloom there at this time of year.

Meanwhile I did get the heritage tomato seeds planted in the same lined basket as last year.   I can only hope something grows, as I'd hate to lose out on seeds for next year.

I think I did pretty good this week, especially since I got rid of so many spider webs.  I also got rid of a bag of old clothes, and a big bag of magazines.

I have a pretty busy week ahead of me, so I'm not sure what kind of de-cluttering I can find time to tackle. I'll have to think about that.  What spot in your house needs a bit of de-cluttering?  Maybe your ideas will spur me on.

 

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