more fun with cuttings

The cuttings are doing great in this warmish, damp weather.  The kenilworth ivy all rooted really well, as you an see here, so I decided to plant it out along the narrow front bed under the birch trees.  The blackbirds kick the bark dust into the path all the time, so I'm hoping it'll form a mat that along the edge so there's nothing for them to kick.

Three out of the four salvia cuttings have taken, and almost all the Mona lavender cuttings are taking too.  I don't know what I'll do with all these plants but it's good to have them on hand.  The Mona lavender cuttings in the ground are starting to spring up nicely too.

With a bit of patience, cuttings sure are a great way of getting free plants.  I'm finding that the trick is to keep them moist at all times but not too wet, and to make sure they don't get too hot.

gaura and fig bags

Just a few random pictures for this post. My gaura is starting to bloom, just a few at the moment but soon the stalks should be covered with these dainty little blossoms.

I should also mention that I've decided to try a different tactic to saving some early figs this year. The first crop gets eaten by the birds, in fact a few are already half-eaten when they're still way too unripe to enjoy. So this year I bought a pack of cheap little bags and tied them over five figs. So far they haven't been touched, but they're only just getting the first purple blush. The weather's been fairly cool so I don't think the first crop will be ready for another week or two.

And finally, I put in cuttings of plectranthus Mona lavender between the ajuga. I had to cover them with bird netting the next day because the blackbirds had already kicked the bark over them! One cutting has already died, I think it was too small and dried out, but the other two are still there and I'll replace the dead one. Gardening this way sure takes a lot longer than just buying the plants, but it costs a lot less. At around $14 a pop, I don't mind taking cuttings from the one plant and being patient.