SEMI RIPE CUTTINGS

When can I take semi ripe cuttings?


Many woody plants can be propagated by semi-ripe cuttings around August. This method is especially useful for increasing stock or the type of shrubs, which either don’t come true from seed or are very difficult to get seed to germinate.

Semi-ripe cuttings are sections of the current season’s growth that has begun to firm. The cutting base is quite hard, while the tip is still soft. Avoid damaged, unhealthy and over-vigorous cuttings, selecting shoots that have the nodes close together. Remove sideshoots of the current season’s growth from the stock plant using sharp secateurs. Trim them to 10-15cm (4-6in) in length, cutting just below a node. After removing the lowest leaves and soft tip make a shallow cut, 1-2cm (0.5-0.75in) long, on one side of the stem base to assist rooting. Some people use rooting powder but if you don’t then just plant a few extra cuttings so if there are fatalities you will still be left with a few rooted cuttings. Insert the cutting in a pot of standard cutting compost in a cold frame, and water in well.

Aftercare

Ensure that the compost remains moist until the cuttings are well rooted, shading the cold frame in hot weather. During winter remove any fallen leaves and dead cuttings, watering only if the compost is dry. The following spring gradually harden off the cuttings before potting them up.

YOUTHREACH PUPPETS

Youthreach Buncrana held thier puppet show at the weekend.

IDEAS FOR THE GARDEN

I must say I am enjoying the Diarmuid Gavin gardening programme on the telly. He is going around and designing gardens for the adventurous amongst us then letting the whole thing be televised for our enjoyment as the owners savings dwindle away to nothing as costs spiral. It might not be that bad though when you hear the news about householders now regularly spending upwards of €100,000 euro to get their garden into an instant maturity. The gardens might not even be a permanent feature either. Some adventurous people even change their garden as often as they would the colour of their walls in the front room, usually every couple of years. The smoking ban might have something to do with it. I was at the yacht club in Fahan there a week or so age to see a friend singing in a band. The place was packed but the crowd were tightly bunched up on the veranda outside, leaving about ten of us in the building listening to the music. It wasn’t an insult to the band that everyone was outside; it was a very warm evening and the patio was a place to feel cool as well as have a smoke. Gardens therefore have taken on a different role over the last few years since the ban on smoking has been in place. When designing gardens a few years ago it would have never occurred to me to include a sheltered smoking area, now it is a necessity especially if the house occupier doesn’t smoke indoors or they have a lot of friends over who smoke. The other thing I like about the garden is Diarmuids’ ability to hand the design over to the client and let them work out the finer details. It doesn’t concern him what sized nails are used for the patio or how poles are secured to the ground. I like that, as when I did designs I would ponder and concern myself with every nut bolt and shovel full of earth that was moved. It was a lesson for me to learn that after I had done the design it should be handed over to the landscapers to make it a reality. This gives me time to sit on the patio and ponder life’s greater mysteries, or at least where the plants are going to go.