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Cuttings, Divisions, Rooted Off-Shoots   The simplest way to do it!

A number of years ago now I began to investigate the idea of a self-financing garden. 
There are a number of ways to achieve this. I chose Hardy Perennial Plants as my particular route, but it can be done equally well with bedding plants, vegetables or shrubs (depending on your particular interest or expertise), and it’s far less time consuming than you might think.  You don’t have to be a gardening expert either. It’s not difficult.

[I wrote a book about it actually. And no, before you ask, writing a book about a self-financing garden isn’t how I achieved the ‘self-financing bit’ - my garden was self-financing long before I decided to sit down and share my methods with other gardeners. The story of how I did it, however, might be of interest to others as it may challenge some of our accepted gardening practices].

Of course there's a lot of pleasure to be had in purchasing plants from the local Nurseries and Superstores to produce that instant garden effect, but there's also great complimentary pleasure to be had in growing your own from
cuttings, and at a fraction of the cost, not to mention the propagation of new ones from your original cuttings as time goes by. And if this is simple and easy to do, then why not re-stock your garden cheaply; even sell some as well?

For those with limited funds and a love of gardening (and that covers most of us) the concept of a self-financing garden is particularly appealing. And then, of course, if the financial aspect is of little interest, or the challenge of adding to your garden’s variety and stock of plants as inexpensively as possible doesn’t grip your imagination, there’s always the option to grow and sell plants on a small scale for the benefit of particular charities or causes.

What follows are the questions I am most commonly asked.

Q).  What plants should I grow?
A).  To begin with I would advocate perennial plants:  plants that survive the winter outside, plants that grow bigger and better as time passes no matter what the elements throw at them, and plants that require little time or effort  to keep them healthy as they will do this for themselves

Q).  How do I do it?
A). Begin with a "master" raised bed (a raised bed to put your original or “master” plants in) and then go out and buy a selection of perennial plants to start you on your way.

Q).  Have I enough space in my garden?
A).  If you have a garden then you will have enough space, no matter how small. 

Q).  How do I sell the plants I produce with maximum ease and minimum hassle?
A).  There are a number of options open to you:  The Market, The Car Boot Sale, The Selling from Home or The Selling through a Retail Outlet - either of these, a combination, or all of them. Additionally, if you wish to raise money for a particular charity or worthy cause, then you could sell at local fetes and charity events.  The possibilities are endless.

Q).   How much time will this involve?
A).  Far less than you imagine and probably more than you actually need.  Personally I tend to do a little often, rather than a lot in one go.

Start with a “master” raised bed to put your “master” or original plants in and simply fill with a mix of soil and sand. When this is done you’ll need a
“cuttings” bed to put your cuttings in – divisions, rooted off-shoots, cuttings, seedlings, they all go in here. My raised beds, by the way, are roughly three foot by six foot and a foot high. Buy the wood, if you can, direct from the local saw mill. It’s cheaper that way.

Fill the
“cuttings” bed in the same way as the “master” bed, a mixture of soil and sand lying flush with the top of the wood, no different, but to propagate cuttings successfully outdoors they will also need a growing medium that contains compost. Soil and sand alone will not suffice.

Make a “V” shaped trench across the bed, from side to side, roughly 4 inches in width and 4 inches in depth, then repeat as often as space will allow, remembering that small
cuttings grow into plants that need room to spread. To make these trenches I use the back of a rake, just one corner of it, dragging the surplus soil out of the raised bed as I go. Fill the trenches with growing medium and now they’re ready to receive your cuttings, rooted-offshoots, divisions and seedlings. As the plants develop in the raised bed they will root through this growing medium and into the soil around it. A simple method that works remarkable well. And any cutting that doesn’t survive (and there will always be a few) is easily removed and replaced with another.

Plants grown this way, knowing nothing else, will be well-adapted to the outside climate. And because they’ve been grown in soil – albeit one you’ve partially created – they won’t require as much tender loving care as if they’d been raised in trays or pots.

So what goes into the trenches?  What’s the growing medium then, you may wonder?

Well it’s easy and cheap – nothing extraordinary – simply a mixture of compost and sand, nothing more. And what could be easier than that?


(For more information, list of plants, recycling of household materials, where to buy materials cheaply, etc, I’m afraid you’ll have to get hold of the book. “In Pursuit Of Perennial Profit – The Pot Of Gold At The Bottom Of The Garden” Publisher: Capall Bann, UK.  Isbn: 186163 1480)

(Copy right Patrick Vickery 2002)

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