Thursday, March 22, 2018

Another Garden Hack Because My Cheapness Has NO Boundaries!


Spring time consumes me with gardening!
The weather is beautiful and I just want to be outside with my hands in the dirt and the sun shining on my face...so bear with me with all my gardening posts!
I thought I'd pass along another fun little gardening hack:
PLANT PROPAGATION
It's a big word that means making smaller plants
 from your original plant.  
Best of all, it's FREE!


Lavender and rosemary are extremely easy to propagate.  Mix some potting soil or seed starting mix with water and fill any container you have that has drainage holes in the bottom.  I save these flower packs from the garden store and just use them year after year.  Clip off the new to fairly new growth from your mother plant, strip off the bottom leaves and bury deep into your potting mix.  Keep soil moist but not damp and in a few weeks you'll see new growth appearing!


Transfer your new little plant to your favorite sunny garden spot, feed well with compost or fertilizer, and you now have half a dozen or so new plants to fill your garden beds.  
It costs you nothing but time. 

Same thing goes for tomatoes.
Whether you grow your tomatoes from seed or purchase from the garden store, clip off the "suckers" from your plants.  "Suckers" are the small shoots that grow out of the joint where the branch of the plant meets the stem.  Simply bury the sucker to the top leaves and keep soil moist.  They will wilt at first, but in a few days you'll start to see them spring back to life and begin new growth. 


I got FIVE new plants started from the suckers of just ONE plant!
That makes a cheapskate like me squeal with delight!
So when my tomato plants are spent, I'll just plant a whole new crop and we will be able to enjoy fresh salsa all the way into October.

You can also read about how I propagated my hydrangea

You can follow the hashtag
#CreamerGarden
on Instagram to see how the garden grows.
(and because I'm a total nerd
 with nothing else exciting going on right now.)

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