Gardener's Question Time

Now is the time to prepare for annual geranium - Ivy leaf Geranium - Osteospurmum - Fuchsia annual cuttings for your baskets & Tubs next May - first make plug trays up - using a peat compost if you can get it Clover peat compost shipped in from Ireland Multi Purpose compost or the best peat free one you can find - mix it all in a trug with perlite in a 70/30 mix firm the compost with finger into each plug just firm enough to hold it into the plug tray-

Then water in with a sprinkler by can or hosepipe & let them drain - then place in rows in lines in your greenhouse or polytunnel or on a small scale your kitchen window sill -

Leave for 2 days too warm up in each plug cell - then with a sharp razor blade propagate your cutting from a good stock plant, you have growing taking them just below a plant node & leave just a few leaves on the top to cut down transpiration from your cutting - the Fuchsia & osteospurmum plants with need humidity so make a small tent with canes just make sure the tent does not touch the leaves - the Geraniums can be left in the open air & sprayed in a mist place a bit of shade over them at first until they look comfortable -


The plants should root easily growing slowly as days will be getting shorter water sparingly till late Autumn -

Then as winter arrives stop watering perhaps just spot water once per month - any bad frosty nights - cover your cuttings with a frost protective fleece & by late spring April /May pot your rooted cuttings into small pots 4-5 cm in pur compost with a dash of Bonemeal -

This will save you a fortune buying plug plants next spring ;)
 


Joey66 said:
Tree should have been staked & rubber banded on planting ..... a spruce hard as nails any rate will grow on that angle now - NVQ - = Not Very Qualified :lol:
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Easily sorted that one Joey, strap and the right spacer and it'll grow upwards. The frame probably negates the need for a stake.
 

Rita_Poon said:
watering helps as well.
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Living in AZ, you don't have to tell us...the problem here is you never know when the heat will rear its ugly head. 25C one week, 35 the next. Still perfecting things...the best thing you can do here is create a good microclimate for the summer via careful shade tree placement TBH. Watering will only do so much when your nighttime lows can be around around 37C for months...no rest for the wicked.
 

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