Plant Cuttings and Calan Gaeaf
When I decided to convert my little field into a wildlife haven I knew I had my work cut out for me. Planting up three quarters of an acre is no mean feat. It was also going to involve a lot of plants. I knew I had to learn about taking plant cuttings to propagate them. Obviously they take longer than buying plants but this is a long term project anyway. Also if a friend happens to have a plant that you like and a couple of spare branches that need pruning…. My mother has always taken plant cuttings but since her stroke I was unable to ask her advice. The RHS book on propagating plants told me everything and I am a bit of a ‘give it a go and see’ person anyway.
As it was Autumn, when I decided on the wildlife haven, hardwood plant cuttings over the winter were my first. The tomatoes were out of the greenhouse so to begin with I put some plant cuttings in the greenhouse and some outside (which is what the book said for hardwood cuttings). These included Winter flowering Jasmine, Forsythia, Grisilinia and a couple of pretty shrubs the names of which I did not know. They all took root outside as well as in the greenhouse but the indoor ones grew better and bigger.
It was very lucky that I had run out of spare space in the greenhouse (I knew I’d have to leave them in over the following summer) before I took Elder cuttings so these only went outside. You are supposed to take off any flowers as these use up energy which the plant needs for root production but I had to leave just one to flower as I just thought what a miracle of nature it is.
I understood that I could plant the cuttings quite close together. However I did not reckon on the amazing amont of growth in one year. Aren’t they magnificent? I find it had to believe that they are the same plants I would have had big problems if they’d been in my little greenhouse! However, I do also foresee problems with moving them to their final growing site. We have had such a mild autumn they have still not lost their leaves. Interestingly though, the mother plant in the hedge lost its leaves a couple of weeks ago. I do not want to try to transplant them until the leaves are gone, especially since I envisage losing a few bits of root when I have to disentangle them!
As we move more into autumn it feels like it is time for me to think about starting off some more plant cuttings as well as getting some more shrubs and trees. Today is Calan Gaeaf, traditionally the Celtic new year. The crops are all in, this year’s season has finished and the next can be planned for. I love to see the world from a different world view sometimes and I feel that this one makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Of course, there is sense in the year starting at the shortest day. However, there is a sense in the year starting with a period of dark. Life begins in the dark, after all. Seeds grow in the dark, we start our lives with 9 months (if we are lucky) in the dark of the womb, ideas grow in our heads before they are exposed to the light of day and other people’s input. When I planted my little trees last autumn, though they looked dormant to me, I knew they would be doing lots of work underground in the soil with their roots before I saw any signs of growth in the spring.