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Gardening Skills

November 11th, 2015

If you’re an avid gardening, learning to propagate plants through a variety of methods is an important skill to cultivate. Not only will you be able to get plants for free, you can also obtain plants that can be difficult to find in nurseries and greenhouses. By far the easiest way to propagate is through cuttings rooted in water. Some plants root very easily with this method, ivy is a great one to start with.
kenilworth ivy 2
I had Kenilworth Ivy growing in my garden in Ohio and really loved it. It’s a valuable plant to have if you have rock walls, it scrambles along the walls filling in the pockets between the stones, blooming beautifully with tiny purple blooms.
kenilworth ivy 2
My first sighting of this ivy was at Longwood Gardens many years ago. At that time, I didn’t know what it was called, but I remembered it for years. One day I spotted it at a local greenhouse and purchased a plant. When we moved from Ohio, I didn’t bring a cutting with me and I’ve been missing it in my garden ever since.
kenilworth ivy 1
Lucky me, I got a cutting about a month ago and rooted it in water. I planted it in the potager under a cloche for winter protection. I’m looking forwarding to propagating more plants next summer and tucking them in the nooks and crannies of all of my rock walls. I’m so thankful I found this beauty again, and even more thankful I didn’t have to pay a penny for it!

Have you learned how to propagate plants? What’s your favorite propagation method?

Lucky Me – Free Plants

January 11th, 2011

Remember those beautiful ‘White Crane’ flowering kale I was waxing on and on about last fall? I thought they might sprout roots if I left them in water after they faded, so I put them down in the basement under the grow lights when they were past prime.

I noticed a few weeks ago that they had sprouted roots – HURRAH! I have 5 plants that I potted up and will planting them in the garden this spring. If I get lucky they’ll set seed and I’ll be able to save seed from them and end up with even more of them (if they do I’ll be sure to have a giveaway).


Next on the plant propagation list: blue sweet potatoes. I bought some blue sweet potatoes at the farmer’s market and I’ll try my hand at propagation soon, I’ll be posting more about my efforts in a few weeks. Propagating plants from sources like this is really the best way to get new plants for your garden, then you have a story to go along with them (not to mention they’re FREE).

Have you ever propagated plants “accidentally”?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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