Adventures in Repotting

As with any adventure - yes, including those undertaken in bright, warm, late morning sunlight - it is generally understood that it should begin only with coffee in hand.  Iced coffee if you must, but make sure you are properly caffeinated.

This is my new favorite coffee mug.  I think I am not alone in my use of coffee mugs.  I'll reuse the same one for about a week, rinsing it out between uses of course, but not rewashing.

Here's the thing.  Being in the fall mood (helped along by strategic placement of pumpkins, mums and haybales at our local grocery stores), I bought a few potted garden mums.  Although they are hardy little plants, they are beginning to suffer in their small containers.  And the big purple one keeps tipping over - which explains its lopsided look...

So I consulted my mother, who is my on-call gardening expert.  She suggested I repot the mums into larger pots and then, after the first frost, cut them way down and keep them in the garage.  When spring hits (sometimes March, sometimes May here in the Midwest), I'll plant them in my garden.

In theory, that all sounds wonderful.  I just hope these mums don't die before the first hard frost, from my amateur repotting efforts.  But I'm always game for these sort of improvement projects, so I grabbed my morning coffee and headed outside.

These are my tools.  The little plastic spade came from Walmart for about two bucks, and the "real" implement came from my mom.

 These are my helpers, Murray and Haley.  Who can garden without their pets "helping"?

At this point, I've emptied three different annuals out of their pots.  Plants, if you can't survive the winter and come up on your own in the spring, I am sorry, but you don't belong in this girl's garden.

My mums!  Aren't they gorgeous?  Nothing says fall like the cute little blooms and the spicy, distinctive smell.