Part of my plans for a revamped and re organised Smithy Brook is much more informal fruit and vegetable plots. My vision is several less formal vegetable areas that will still enable us to practice good crop rotation practices but won’t be the rigid square blocks we currently have. I want to surround each vegetable area with flower beds with the fruit bushes and trees intermingled among the flowering plants. The beehives will also be informally placed in these flowering areas. I hope to have these in place by spring 2021.
With this in mind I decided this week that I ought to start increasing my stock of soft fruit bushes in preparation. If I can get a good number propagated by taking cuttings now it will save me spending a small fortune next spring at the nurseries.
I already have a number of redcurrant, blackcurrant, raspberry and blueberry bushes so it was from these I have taken cuttings. The process I’ve followed was to take a cutting approximately 100mm long from the tip of healthy stems. I cut just below an active bud then removed the bud with a finger nail. The cuttings were then left stood in water overnight. The following day each cutting was dipped in a hormone rooting gel then pushed into prepared pots of compacted seed and cutting compost. I put four cuttings in to each pot to save space. The pots were then watered and placed outdoors out of direct sunlight. I just need to keep them watered now and see how many of my cuttings take root over the next few weeks.
Wish me luck!
