Well folks, nearly 10 months after starting our little avocado pit growing experiment, we've transplanted one of our trees into a potted new home with fresh soil — and we did it with the help of these adorable little hands.
While at the hardware store getting river pebbles and topsoil to fill up our grapevine planters, we spotted this blue planter and thought it could work perfectly for the avocado plants, so we picked one up with a matching planter base to test out. We knew the kids would be coming that weekend, so we saved this little project to take on with the oldest of the 3 while the younger 2 took a nap.
I like the muted blue tone of the planter and the faceted patterning throughout the pot. Should this little avocado plant survive in the new planter, it will be fun trying to find others that complement it. It was also nice finding a planter that already had a large drainage hole to begin with, so no power drill involved in this project!
We went on a little back patio "mulch and pebble hunt" to build up a layer on the bottom of the planter, allowing for drainage:
Virginia (my niece) particularly liked the idea that Basil was "helping" to inspect all of our findings before they went into the planter:
After our layer of pebbles and mulch, we scooped soil to fill about two thirds of the planter then made a hole where we would rest the thick roots of the avocado plant. Virginia held the plant steady while I filled in the dirt around the roots and up to the pit:
She took this job very seriously:
After filling in the rest of the pot with soil, still allowing the tip of the avocado to peek through, we wiped down the pot (and Virginia's hands, legs and feet) and brought this guy back inside:
We gave it a generous first watering to get things going and hoped for the best! I particularly like the fact we saved this little project to do with Virginia during the kids' visit, because each time she comes over to our house in the future we'll have something to check in on and she'll hopefully remember it's something we did together.
We've placed the potted plant on a stool in our kitchen right near the same window it's been growing in over the past 9 months to eliminate too much shock during the transfer. We're keeping an eye on it and hopefully once we feel confident enough it's taking well to it's new space, we'd like to move it over to the little desktop in the other corner of our kitchen. We left the other two plants in their same water glass situation in case this transplanted pit doesn't make it — but if we are successful, the others will be joining this guy in planters of their own sometime soon!
So interesting as I took a pit and shoved it in a 4" plastic pot with starter mix, watered it when I remembered, and it did nothing in the kitchen window. After a month or so, I set it out on the front porch, but not in direct sunlight. Within a week, it sprouted. After regular watering and mounding up with biodynamic compost, it is now 10" tall with four leaves I think. I haven't figured out where or when to plant it. Good luck with yours! Love the blue pot. - Kaye
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! We are having fun watch it grow and hope planting it in this soil will only help it to thicken up and grow even taller! We'll be sure to keep up on the progress reports :)
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