Plans for planting

[E&MBees]

is it easy to take cuttings?

Not to bad. Here are the instructions:

 

[E&MBees]

This is a very good book, if you want to branch out and have a go taking cuttings from other plants too.

 

[Nannysbees]

This is a very good book, if you want to branch out and have a go taking cuttings from other plants too.
View attachment 30924

Thank you I'll have a look at that. Pruning and cuttings are my weak area. Have geraniums that have survived outside all winter, wanted to take cuttings from then but haven't a clue how!!

 

[E&MBees]

Thank you I'll have a look at that. Pruning and cuttings are my weak area. Have geraniums that have survived outside all winter, wanted to take cuttings from then but haven't a clue how!!

Bedding geraniums? They are very easy. Find some sturdy non flowering shoots. Cut just below a leaf node. Remove the lower leaves using a sharp knife. Dip the cut stem in hormone rooting powder. Plant around the edge of small pots as this is where oxygen levels are greatest. Cover with a plastic bag and keep indoors on a window sill but out of direct sunlight until rooted.

 

[Nannysbees]

Bedding geraniums? They are very easy. Find some sturdy non flowering shoots. Cut just below a leaf node. Remove the lower leaves using a sharp knife. Dip the cut stem in hormone rooting powder. Plant around the edge of small pots as this is where oxygen levels are greatest. Cover with a plastic bag and keep indoors on a window sill but out of direct sunlight until rooted.

Thank you brilliant advice, I'll do that today

 

[Skinfaxi]

My dad was a market gardener between 1940 and 1971. Tomato's were his main greenhouse crop and I can't recall him mentioning problems with blight although sometimes grey botritis moulds would occur in isolated areas which he would cut out and remove from the greenhouse. Any fruit that dropped off plants or organic debris was cleared out to prevent it being a harbour for the mould.
In those days potato root eelworm was the bane of all the tomato growers in the locality and he used to inject a product called Shell D D into the soil after the plants were removed before winter so the soil was "clean" before spring planting. Formaldehyde solution was sprayed liberally on all interior surfaces to kill other pests and diseases. It was pretty nasty work even with gas masks.
In later years a couple of other products were developed. Dazomet and Vapam which were more effective at killing nasties. Dazomet was a powder which was tilled into the soil whereas Vapam was a liquid version which was diluted and watered on. Both broke down to release gaseous products that smelt faintly of onions but made your eyes stream after a period of exposure. I believe both products are currently available but now restricted to licenced users.
He grew a strain of tomato identified as JR6 sourced from D T Brown.

In a glass house environment you need good air flow, also keep the place clean and avoid cross contamination. remove all dead and dying leaves fruit etc. if you grow tomatoes remove bottom leaves as the trunk lengthens. you can foliar spray with kelp seaweed. use trichoderma species if needed. trichoderma fungus colonises the soil and outcompetes harmful fungi like damping off types. in a glass house use biological pest controls within the temperature humidity range. In soil you can use biofumigants like caliente mustards. Milk is good to increase biological life in the soil or water mix.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

In a glass house environment you need good air flow, also keep the place clean and avoid cross contamination. remove all dead and dying leaves fruit etc. if you grow tomatoes remove bottom leaves as the trunk lengthens. you can foliar spray with kelp seaweed. use trichoderma species if needed. trichoderma fungus colonises the soil and outcompetes harmful fungi like damping off types. in a glass house use biological pest controls within the temperature humidity range. In soil you can use biofumigants like caliente mustards. Milk is good to increase biological life in the soil or water mix.

Thank you but it's perhaps worth mentioning dad took up gardening on a higher etheral plane back in 1972 so probably won't benefit from your advice
I do recall chloropicrin was an option for soil treatment but he never used it. Leaf stripping was one of my out of school weekend jobs, together with sideshoot removal using bushel baskets to carry out the debris. He was one of the first commercial growers in the area to employ liquid feeding and yields increased dramatically to the extent our MAFF advisor took photographs of the trusses. The photos appeared in the trade magazine. He mixed his own feed from bulk chemicals. It was often interesting to see visitors invited to put their hand in a bucket of warm water then repeat after dissolving potassium nitrate in the bucket. The temperature plunged as the crystals dissolved.
Modern commercial growing seems to have become predominately hydroponic with greenhouse soil covered over with polythene and plants growing in bags of fibrous material with measured quantities of nutrient supplied in solution. Ím sure he would have approved of not having to dig/rotavate and treat the soil every year as much of every December involved a bout of lumbago requiring bed rest and copious amounts of ralgex.or deep heat.

 

[Moobee]

That thought did cross my mind.

Also marketed as Black Krim or Black Crimea!

 

[Skinfaxi]

Thank you but it's perhaps worth mentioning dad took up gardening on a higher etheral plane back in 1972 so probably won't benefit from your advice
I do recall chloropicrin was an option for soil treatment but he never used it. Leaf stripping was one of my out of school weekend jobs, together with sideshoot removal using bushel baskets to carry out the debris. He was one of the first commercial growers in the area to employ liquid feeding and yields increased dramatically to the extent our MAFF advisor took photographs of the trusses. The photos appeared in the trade magazine. He mixed his own feed from bulk chemicals. It was often interesting to see visitors invited to put their hand in a bucket of warm water then repeat after dissolving potassium nitrate in the bucket. The temperature plunged as the crystals dissolved.
Modern commercial growing seems to have become predominately hydroponic with greenhouse soil covered over with polythene and plants growing in bags of fibrous material with measured quantities of nutrient supplied in solution. Ím sure he would have approved of not having to dig/rotavate and treat the soil every year as much of every December involved a bout of lumbago requiring bed rest and copious amounts of ralgex.or deep heat.

how did you find getting the tomato resin from your hands? wash wash wash

 

[Nannysbees]

Hours of transplanting yesterday and hours more to go, always regretted not investing in a bigger greenhouse. Don't think I'll use my paraffin heater again, the whole greenhouse is covered in a layer of black soot and every spider web is like something from a horror film. Not the most ecologically friendly piece of equipment!!!!

 

[elainemary]

Finally got in my own garden today and started on the seeds. Sweet peas, Corncockle, Clary sown, onions and shallots started off in modules. Dahlia tubers potted ready for cuttings. Plenty still to go .

I experimented with my dahlia tubers this winter. Usually store in straw or very dry compost. Always get the odd one that rots. So this year I just left on the greenhouse staging. Been preoccupied and I’ve neglected them as they’ve shrivelled and some feel soft but not in a rotten way - just dehydrated. I soaked them in a bucket of water for a few hours and I’ve potted up. Do you think any will ‘bud’?

 

[BoStor]

Intend to scarify the 1/4 acre of "lawn" again this year and scatter it with seeds collected and bought from last year. Its not proper lawn grass so hard to restrict growth. Last year got some wildflower mix to work but not a raving success. Any ideas?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Intend to scarify the 1/4 acre of "lawn" again this year and scatter it with seeds collected and bought from last year. Its not proper lawn grass so hard to restrict growth. Last year got some wildflower mix to work but not a raving success. Any ideas?

Grass is very vigorous and will out compete wild flowers. You have a few choices. Dig it up and sow your wildflower mix. Dig up patches and do the same. Sow yellow rattle in the autumn to weaken the grass

 

[Nannysbees]

I experimented with my dahlia tubers this winter. Usually store in straw or very dry compost. Always get the odd one that rots. So this year I just left on the greenhouse staging. Been preoccupied and I’ve neglected them as they’ve shrivelled and some feel soft but not in a rotten way - just dehydrated. I soaked them in a bucket of water for a few hours and I’ve potted up. Do you think any will ‘bud’?

I wrapped mine in newspaper and put them in the garage over winter, never saved them before, soaked them overnight and I've potted them up, like your tubers, in the lap of the god!!!

 

[bobba]

is it easy to take cuttings?

Very easy.

My mum got me started on cuttings. When I was little I remember her tacking all sorts of cuttings, often from peoples front gardens, sometimes without permission, if it hung over a fence she considered it fair game! If she saw anything she liked she would take a cutting and have a crack at growing it.

I find I get the most success with cuttings with a few simple steps. Use the best cleanest potting soil you have, I like jhon no.2. Make sure the soil is nice and damp. Take your cutting, dip the cut end in water, then rooting powder, then pop in the pot of damp soil and cross your fingers. Always take more than you want as some will die.

There is a bit of a skill to picking a good cutting, it varies from plant to plant, but you will learn fast with a bit of practice.

Mum used to cut an extra big cutting, transport it home, then take a smaller cutting from that to plant. Otherwise a small cutting would wielt and die before it got home.

One of Mums most memorable cuttings was from a practically beautiful Acer tree. After moving house she went back to the old house and took another cutting for the new house. So the tree she has now is a cutting of a cutting.

I have a Blue Wisteria thanks to mums teachings! Its about 5 years old now, am still waiting for it to flower.

 

[Nannysbees]

Very easy.

My mum got me started on cuttings. When I was little I remember her tacking all sorts of cuttings, often from peoples front gardens, sometimes without permission, if it hung over a fence she considered it fair game! If she saw anything she liked she would take a cutting and have a crack at growing it.

I find I get the most success with cuttings with a few simple steps. Use the best cleanest potting soil you have, I like jhon no.2. Make sure the soil is nice and damp. Take your cutting, dip the cut end in water, then rooting powder, then pop in the pot of damp soil and cross your fingers. Always take more than you want as some will die.

There is a bit of a skill to picking a good cutting, it varies from plant to plant, but you will learn fast with a bit of practice.

Mum used to cut an extra big cutting, transport it home, then take a smaller cutting from that to plant. Otherwise a small cutting would wielt and die before it got home.

One of Mums most memorable cuttings was from a practically beautiful Acer tree. After moving house she went back to the old house and took another cutting for the new house. So the tree she has now is a cutting of a cutting.

I have a Blue Wisteria thanks to mums teachings! Its about 5 years old now, am still waiting for it to flower.

I'm going to start taking more, I've taken the geranium cuttings. I took a few salvia cuttings last year and they were very easy to propagate, incredible she was successful with an acer,I have a beauty at the bottom of my garden maybe I'll try my luck.i have a purple wisteria which is years and years old never had a bloom.i also have a white which has flowered since day one!!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

how did you find getting the tomato resin from your hands? wash wash wash

Pretty much. Sticks like sh*t to a blanket.

 

[E&MBees]

I experimented with my dahlia tubers this winter. Usually store in straw or very dry compost. Always get the odd one that rots. So this year I just left on the greenhouse staging. Been preoccupied and I’ve neglected them as they’ve shrivelled and some feel soft but not in a rotten way - just dehydrated. I soaked them in a bucket of water for a few hours and I’ve potted up. Do you think any will ‘bud’?

Hopefully. It’s worth giving them a go. I store mine dry in a tray, nothing fancy. They sometimes take a while to get going, but get there in the end.

 

[Mabee]

I'm going to start taking more, I've taken the geranium cuttings. I took a few salvia cuttings last year and they were very easy to propagate, incredible she was successful with an acer,I have a beauty at the bottom of my garden maybe I'll try my luck.i have a purple wisteria which is years and years old never had a bloom.i also have a white which has flowered since day one!!

The white one may have been grafted. Pruning in its early years really helps, but I guess it’s worth trying any time if you want flowers. I followed my old faithful Readers Digest Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants and Flowers (great book) when I planted it back 15 years ago.

- In Feb cut back all growths to within 2-3 buds off the base of last years growth, then cut the new growth in July back to 5-6 buds from the base.

Do this for a couple of years and you should definitely get flowers. I find mine now just needs the stragglers cutting and flowers beautifully each year.

 

[Nannysbees]

The white one may have been grafted. Pruning in its early years really helps, but I guess it’s worth trying any time if you want flowers. I followed my old faithful Readers Digest Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants and Flowers (great book) when I planted it back 15 years ago.

- In Feb cut back all growths to within 2-3 buds off the base of last years growth, then cut the new growth in July back to 5-6 buds from the base.

Do this for a couple of years and you should definitely get flowers. I find mine now just needs the stragglers cutting and flowers beautifully each year.

That's my mistake I've never pruned the purple one I've let it go although it isn't anywhere near the size of the white one.. is it too late to prune for this year?