Cheat Sheet: Easy Propagation.

The Art (and Ease) of Creating Free Plants and Growing the Garden at Moorfield on a Budget, with a Focus on Favourite Ways.

Learning how to propagate plants while studying horticulture was like being given the keys to a treasure chest of possibilities in my garden. Suddenly, money was not a limitation on growing the size of my garden and lets face it, for most of us, money is almost always the handbrake, followed by time and know-how. So, in this guide I want to teach you easy propagation techniques that we use all the time and that both Little Oak was and Moorfield to come, a demonstration of what you can build without a lot of resources and after a couple of goes, you’ll be propagating at lightening speed, anything and everything you can get your hands on.

Propagation can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be and sometimes I have the time and energy to be fastidious about the whole process, I was taught by one of the most particular propagators in the industry and sometimes I just want and need it to be as simple and least time consuming as possible. This time of year is one of those times when doing jobs in the garden needs to be as efficient as possible on account of the sheer volume of them and the ever gathering pace as we begin the downhill leg toward spring. In terms of ideal times of year to propagate, alongside autumn, this is it, the tale end of winter and into spring. The ground is warming enough to push new growth, sugars are flowing, energy is rising and nodes are only just beginning to bulge.

In this guide I will be covering the types of propagation we are undertaking now in order to populate new parts of the garden and fill out existing, from the most simple techniques to the slightly more involved. From the tail end of being able to take hardwood cuttings while plants are still majority dormant (these can be started from mid-autumn) to softwood cuttings taken in spring. From division to layering to seed sowing, there are so many ways to make a bunch of free plants for your garden, your family and friends.

Pip xo

The more complicated seed germination work I was doing at the Royal Tasmanian Conservation Seed Bank of Rare and Endangered Species.