Its Time to Repot! - Aug 17, 2010
I have been growing a rosemary plant in a pot for at least 5 years now just outside my back door. In the first couple of years the plant grew vigorously and I had an endless supply of fresh home grown rosemary to use in my cooking.
Last summer I noticed the plant began to get die back and I had to water it much more often or the leaves went yellow.
I decided to topdress the soil with cow manure and this gave the plant a new lease of life. Over winter the plant has gone backwards again so this morning I decided to repot it into a bigger pot.
The rosemary plant was so pot bound I had to break the old pot with a hammer. Once the roots were exposed it was obvious why the plant was so unhappy. Over time the organic matter in the potting mix decomposes and the available space is replaced by roots. Organic matter absorbs the moisture and releases nutrients to the plant so once this is gone the plant begins to perish.
I removed at least 25% of the compacted roots with a shovel then replanted it into a much bigger pot using Tim's best potting mix.
If you were to fertilise this plant now it would die from dehydration. Instead I watered it with a seaweed solution to stimulate new root growth.
In the next couple of weeks my rosemary plant will respond to the warmer weather with fresh new growth and the taste of my cooking should improve dramatically. If you have pot plants that are looking unhappy repot them now and you will be rewarded with lush green leaves and more flowers this spring.
Tim Pickles is a CNP horticulturist and director of Tim's Garden centre 2 Queen St Campbelltown 46267022.