When it comes to plants, I'm always pretty amazed by propagation, especially taking cuttings. Essentially, you're cutting a plant in half but BOTH parts grow. To put that into context with animals, it's like a lizard not only regrowing its tail, but the severed tail REGROWING the body! I mean, WOW!
As part of my farming plans, I'm currently doing a lot of landscaping, maintenance and forward planning (as mentioned in my Building a Small Farm - Thinking of Nut Trees) post. And I need A LOT of plants because not only do I love growing vegetables, but I also love flowers! So it's important to me to have both a productive and beautiful site.
And that's where plant propagation comes in....
Plants for Free
Homesteading and farming may be a fantastic way of life, but it sure ain't going to make you rich. Not at the start, anyway. Yes, okay, after a few years you might have a prize winning bull you sell for thousands, but when you're beginning, cash will probably be tight and things will break - constantly. Combined with the steep learning curve and not knowing all the tricks of the trade that'll probably lead to a few surprise costs, most probably you'll be (and I fully expect to be) broke.
Anything FREE, therefore, is essential!
So I'm starting now with a few plants, both for landscaping the farm but also selling for additional income.
The first plants I'm amassing are buddleias as I want to create two 'groves'; the first at the entrance to the wildflower meadow will be white buddleia plants that you can walk amongst to get the fragrance and watch the butterflies. The second will be a mauve variety I'm using as a hedge either side of my living willow dome that will act as the entrance to the nuttery.
I didn't have much luck last year, but this year they've ALL taken.
Whilst the pelargoniums are yet to show roots, they do look like they've taken just by the lack of dead, crispy looking mature. Meanwhile, most of the rosemary has taken too. You can see on the image below that the one on the right is healthy and has produced roots; note the fresh looking green foliage and growing tip in the centre. The one of the left, however, is yellowing, brittle and has no growing tip; no roots here!
So, all in all, I'm really glad with how the cuttings have taken this year. They're too vulnerable to sit outside all winter so they'll be potted up and kept in a cold frame or greenhouse. It allows them to stop growth due to the ambient temperature, but not to get frosted or snowed on! And then, next year, I can start to think about actually getting some plant landscaping done at the farm. Exciting!
If you want to take a look at the cuttings, here's my video too!
