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aloe

I had some indoor aloe plants that were overcrowding their planter and I needed to re-pot them. Well, originally I had split these into two large indoor pots, but then I decided I wanted to use one of those large pots to start some garlic that was sprouting in my cupboards.

I moved the garlic into the pot and I moved the aloe out, but I didn’t have any potting soil on hand. I have been composting since I moved here, but I haven’t actually used any of that compost. Nor is that compost in any kind of container, I just have a spot where I dump organic matter instead of putting it in my trash. I occasionally rake it, but other than that it’s just a pile with dirt-like qualities and doesn’t see any action. Sure, I have the internet and I could look up the best way to prepare it for use as potting soil, but in typical let’s-see-what-happens-when-I-do-this fashion, I decided to try baking it.

I prepared a baking sheet with some parchment paper, spread the compost over it, preheated the oven, and then baked it at 350 for 30 minutes. For no particular reason I increased the temperature to 400 for another 15 minutes and then turned off the oven. It smelled like dirt for a few minutes at the beginning, but it never smelled like it was burning.

I retrieved it a few hours later, put it in the new pot and re-hydrated it by spraying it and stirring it. The process reduced the volume by two thirds and I barely had enough to cover the roots. If the plants don’t survive I’ll go read up on how I should have done it.

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