How often have you driven down your street and envied your neighbors beautiful gardens? I think we all have at times. This does not mean we have to grow a great garden. Instead, we need to learn a few frugal gardening techniques to improve our gardens, so they look beautiful too.
I know we have to save water where possible, and we can do this by becoming more water wise and planting natives will encourage this. I still miss the beautiful variegated shrubs and plants that thrive on water. Although, these plants often need extra care and are not cheap to buy either.
I intend to show you in this article how to save money growing your own for little or no outlay at all. Next time you visit your friends, admire their gardens. Then, hit them for cuttings from their plants. It is that simple to get started.
The Dianthus, Pelargonium, Salvia, Verbena, Viola, Chrysanthemum and the Delphinium are ideal plants to grow from cuttings.
This is where you have to get your hands dirty.
Collect your cuttings, during the milder weather, before the flowering season has finished. Avoid planting your cuttings during the frosts unless you plant indoors.
It is important to start with good strong non-flowering stems. Trim each cutting below the lowest joint and then remove all the lower leaves, leaving a couple on the top. This will put the strength back into the stem for re-growth.
Prepare your pots or garden bed with good seed or potting mix. Water well and leave to drain while you prepare the cuttings. To encourage root growth, I dip the bottom of my cuttings into a rooting powder (use the hard or softwood) depending on the type of wood stems you are planting.
If you would prefer you can grow many plants from seed just as successfully
Insert a stick into the seed mix to form a hole, then push cutting into that hole. Press soil firm around cutting. Allow room for stems to shoot without overcrowding.
Do not water cuttings for a couple of days. Water from below by filling a saucer with water until the surface is moist. Mould could form on these cuttings from overhead watering. Never cover with plastic covering for the same reason.
Transplant into other containers or pots when cuttings have substantial growth and more established plants.
Dig your plant out when dormant and wash the roots. Cut the thin yet solid roots off close to the crown with a sharp knife or secateurs. Cut each one about eight centimetres long. Cut them straight across the top and on a slant at the base. Push the slanted end of cuttings right down into a pot of seed mix, leaving about half an inch above the surface.
Top this with some coarse sand and place indoors or in a greenhouse. Once they develop leaves transfer into each pot and water well.
NOTE: Lay thin root cuttings flat on the surface of moist soil mix. Finish by covering with a little more seed mix.
The Acanthus, Geranium, Phlox and Primula are all suitable plants to grow from root cuttings.
You can also grow herbs like Rosemary and Lavender from cuttings too.
Now you have no more excuses for not having a great garden and it should not have cost you the earth to make.
There is another way of creating more plants and that is by dividing them up to make more. For instance, you can learn how to divide one Bird fern plant into four individual plants.
You might also want to do more frugal gardening by growing your own potatoes.
Bromeliades is another beautiful plant that you can grow cheaply. You can grow these from the pup that shoots up from the bottom of the old plant
Happy gardening.
Did you know you could also grow passion vines from a cutting? It is as simple as taking a cutting, then trim off the extra leaves. Leave two or three leaves at the top to encourage growth.
Damp the base of cutting and dip into some hormone growth powder or gel, then plant in good seed raising soil. Cover with a plastic seal proof bag. Remove plastic to water.
If you live in a hard dry area or often away from home then try planting more succulents. Cacti or most succulents will survive in all sorts of weather.
As we travel a lot we have decided to go down this road. A friend offered us the opportunity of taking lots of cuttings from her garden, which we gratefully accepted. We spent 4 hours potting all these and others up.
A variety of succulents, even a leaf will grow.
The following images will give you ideas for other plants that you can grow from cuttings.
A word of warning - I have lost a few of these because we had severe frosts for a week. My own fault, I should have covered them up although I did think that succulents were hardy plants and would survive all weathers. I was wrong.[1]
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