Being in lockdown is hard on me financially because I work freelance and part-time so I am not eligible for any kind of unemployment compensation and it has been no work, no pay. When one employer called to say that he had a permit to reopen, I went back immediately. I have mixed feelings about it because my bookshop job involves being exposed to whoever comes into the shop and anything they may be carrying but it means groceries in my cupboard and that of my neighbour, who is in a similar predicament. He agreed to help me clean up my nightmare of a backyard so he has had the unenviable task of removing old tree stumps and sieving the soil to remove all the builder's rubble that makes it impossible to have a garden there.
At work, it's like a ghost town so I tend to wander around when bored and that's how I came across this very dehydrated cactus lying abandoned in a public flower pot.
It's a Ferocactus townsendianus aka Fish Hook barrel cactus, a very slow-growing but tolerant species, ideal for me to put in a pot outside and forget about it. I used to be really good at killing cacti but I have since learned to put them in a clay pot outside and ignore them and they grow happily and even make flowers, which they seldom do if grown indoors.
It's very dehydrated but far from dead and once the roots get active, it should swell out again. Like most commercially grown plants, it was started in a tiny pot of potting soil, which it outgrew long ago. I don't know where the pot was, it was dumped a long time ago to be this dehydrated.
What mix you grow cacti in depends on the climate and because my weather is very similar to the natural environment of many cacti, I can happily grow it in a coarse soil with some added cacti and succulent potting mix. Although cacti and succulent mix seems similar to ordinary potting mixtures, it is low in Nitrogen and high in Potassium, which is what cacti need. I got this soil from the road, where the larger particles form drifts against the stormwater gutters.
Cooler, more humid climates usually require growing mediums like pumice for cacti to survive, but it's not necessary here. The large particles allow water to drain away quickly, preventing cacti from rotting.
Although this pot is currently too large for the cactus, it means that I could happily leave there for the next five years or more before I need to consider repotting it. One look at those thorns will tell you that it's not one you want to touch regularly. It's easy enough to handle at this size but in future, I would need leather welders gloves to move it.
