One of the most rewarding tasks in a garden is producing plants by your own efforts, either by sowing seeds or taking cuttings with the myriad of other means of growing on plants in between.
Seed Sowing is probably the easiest method to grow plants however it is important that you follow a few simple rules especially regarding hygiene and the compost you select as a growing medium.
Some seeds can be sown directly into the garden, whether it is on your vegetable plot or you are creating a delightful border of annual flowering plants. As long as you prepare the soil well by digging and burying all existing green growth or manure and raking the soil well after a winter frosting, your chances of getting a good crop or a colourful display are certainly enhanced.
Seed sowing can be great fun and is certainly a wonderful way to get children interested in gardening. As your skills develop you can often reap great rewards from harvesting your own seeds in your garden if you carefully cut & store the seed pod heads on paper in dry conditions and wait until the seeds are ready.
There are plenty of good books to describe seed sowing and those varieties that will give you consistently good results, time after time.
Softwood cuttings is another method of duplicating some of the plants in your garden or by taking cuttings from neighbours plants with their permission you can add to the variety of plants you already have.
Softwood cuttings are comparatively easy to root and there are a range of products available to encourage the development of a fibrous root system on a comparatively small cutting to give your plant as good a start as possible.
Hardwood cuttings can be fun too and can often be tried outside in the garden without the need of propagators. The process can be applied to a whole host of deciduous shrubs like Philadephus, Ribes, Deutzia, Forsythia and many more.
|
