Friday, May 6, 2011

Plant Swap Prep: gathering cuttings, offshoots, seedlings, & unwanted plants

 Today I'm spending my day getting ready for the N. Oakland Plant Swap that we are putting on tomorrow.

This means that I am running around my house and yard searching for things to snip off, pull out, bag up, and gather together. Its amazing how easy it is to make a new plant out of practically nothing. Get yourself a little rooting hormone and you are gold. You could literally never buy another plant or seed again if you just put a little bit of work in to it, and I do mean little.

Here are some of the things around my house I am pulling from to add to the plant swap tomorrow:
Lemon Balm
I rooted this from a cutting and will take more cuttings from it for the swap.

Basil
We started from seed & rooted from cuttings various herbs including:
yarrow, lavender, rosemary, & this basil

Marigolds
Started from seeds, we ended up with more than we will use

Succulents
snapping off various succulent cuttings from around my yard

Ivy
A wonderful indoor plant that has grown long. I've snipped off cuttings for people to  root.

Lettuces
We started a little bit too many lettuces so I'll have a few to swap

Succulent
This shows a great example of how succulents multiply.
You can easily twist off these lower heads and  root them for a whole new plant.

Another succulent I took cuttings from.
I can't wait for the swap tomorrow. What a great way to start a garden or green up your home all for free.

I leave you today with a picture of some artichokes in my front yard. I watch these things grow larger and larger every day and I can't wait to sink my teeth in to them. I like the background of lawns & cars. Such a stark contrast. Get outside and enjoy this beautiful day!

2 comments:

  1. Stupid question: How do you know where to cut when doing your cuttings? The succulents seem more obvious on what to do than other plants...

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  2. It's always best to look up each individual plant you are cutting from and see what the recommendation is but in general you want to leave at least 3-5 nodes on the piece you are cutting off.

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