If it’s a choice between paying bills and buying plants then the garden must come second. However, there are several ways in which you can get plants for nothing – legally. Lots of plants make more plants quickly and easily. Many gardeners don’t actually want these extra plants.
Almost any plant will grow by cutting if it is taken at the correct time of year. Simply stick your cuttings into damp ground or pots and they’ll soon be as big as the parent plant. Sometimes it helps a cutting to take root if you create a moist atmosphere. To do this, place a clear plastic bag over the pot. A rubber band will prevent the wind from blowing it off, while two little sticks will prevent it from leaning against the cutting and possibly causing mildew to develop. Or cut a soft drink bottle in half and upend the halves over your cuttings.
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If there are no bushes in the garden from which cuttings can be taken, ask friends if they will give cuttings from their gardens. The local garden club may also have a cutting table for attendees to bring and take cuttings from.
Home gardeners who are out pruning their gardens may be quite willing to pass cuttings over the fence if asked nicely. It will save space in their recycling bin.
Very often school fetes or markets will have a table of cuttings from people’s gardens for sale. These are not actually free, but are much cheaper than buying from a nursery or store. And if there are any left at the end of the night, they usually end up in the bin. Offer to give them a good home rather than clog up the bin.
If there are no green waste recycling bins in the district, cuttings can often be found at the local tip. People take trailer loads of greenery that has been pruned from their gardens to the tip. If they are still fresh when found bring a few home and pot them up.
Sometimes public parks and streets are lined with pretty shrubs or flowers that go to seed. The seeds drop off and are swept away by wind and rain. These can be watched and caught when they fall. It is not as if anyone else wanted them. Even seed pods that have dropped into the gutter still often have viable seeds in them. These would only be washed into the drains, so it’s not stealing.
Friends and friendly gardeners are often quite happy to give seeds from their garden if they don’t want them. The plant that grows from them may not be true to the original, but that is half the fun of growing seeds.
When the budget does allow shopping at the nursery, choose one or more of the many plants that can be increased by dividing the root clump, bulbs tubers or corms. Irises, lilies, hippeastrums, dahlias, daffodils and jonquils and some of those pretty foliage plants. Once they grow big enough to divide and grow there will be plenty of plants to swap with other gardeners.
To divide a plant with lots of roots dig it up and cut through the mass with a sharp knife, or pull it gently apart to avoid damaging the roots.
Many plants can be grown from cuttings if taken at the right time. If your cutting fails, then try taking another one at the change of season.
Sometimes the best time to take a cutting is at bud swell. This is usually early spring when the buds are starting to swell on the branch, but before any greenery or flowers show. Deciduous hibiscus responds very well to this type of cutting. Some fruit trees can be propagated in this way also.
Place cuttings into a pot filled with soil or potting mix, encase in a plastic bag and they mostly grow roots with no trouble. Some people like to dip the end in a rooting hormone first, but they can often be grown without this added expense.
The main thing to remember when growing cuttings is to keep them damp and in semi-shade for the first few weeks. Softwood tip cuttings can be taken while the plant is growing well.
Many daisy varieties will grow roots along the stalk of a branch that rests on the ground. Carefully pull a branch down to ground level and anchor it there with a brick for a few weeks. When the roots have formed, cut the branch off the main bush. Leave it in place for a while longer to allow the roots to gain strength, then lift it out gently and relocate in its new home.
Plants like violas, pansies and cosmos seed freely and can come up year after year. In these days of hybrids, the seed plant does not always remain true to the parent, but that does not matter. Even though it reverts to the original plant, it is still very attractive and in some cases, hardier than the hybrid was.
Collecting seed from flowers in the garden can be an interesting hobby. Carefully tie pieces of old pantyhose or stockings carefully over the seedpods as they ripen. Then the seed will simply fall into these collection bags and be safe.
Be sure the seed is completely ripe and dry before storing; otherwise it will simply go moldy and become useless. Label and date each lot of seed before storing it in a cool, dark place. Empty pill bottles make good containers for seed.
So, to get some extra plants for the garden at no extra cost, let your flowers go to seed and have a go at growing cuttings to swap with other gardeners. It’s really easy and fun too.
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