Idea for lifecycling (?!) in the garden
 

I was thinking it could be a good idea for JTers near one another to get together and life cycle things from the garden. For example: giving away seedings, seeds or unwanted plants that could be dug up with minimal damage to the roots. It would be great for people with a small/big garden on a small budget. What do u think?

Great idea.

Brilliant...and wouldn't it be just nice to meet up and have a chat and share some thoughts and ideas...and advise...and more importantly a laugh!

I volunteer my house near Ballinasloe for a JTers Life Cycle day.

We could meet and greet and share items with one another

Great idea. I have loads here that I would be willing to bring clippings of. Lots of JTers in the area should be interested too

Fantastic idea
 

would love to know JTers around dun laoghaire/shankill/bray who would be interested in doing just this.
I would be so interested. it would be fun too.
xminnie pal

hey for clippings!
 

i am now in my concrete jungle and if anyone around my area as mentioned around dun laoghaire has any clippings etc and would like to recycle this way, I am certainly keen.
xxminnie pal

I'd like to take part in this too ... but would need a bit of guidance as to what plants can be grown from clippings ?? ... Have quite a few but am a bit clueless :o

me too!
 

Only, I am clueless too, so we can be clueless together.
I dont know how to propogate from clippings but willing to learn and share and will try as well if i get 'the knowledge' on anything i will share!
xminnie pal.

Phew, am not the only one then :-)
I've done cuttings from indoor plants and soaked them in water to get the roots going but haven't a clue how to go about outdoor plants! I know theres a rooting powder you can buy but not sure how good it is etc. ... anyone want to enlighten me and minnie? :D
Thanks all

Taking cuttings
 

Hello there, cuttings are really easy, i've done loads this summer and all are looking ok(not dead anyway!). Just cut a few inches off the top of something u fancy, take off all but 3 or 4 leaves, stick it into compost, keep it moist & it shd grow. I didn't do the plastic bag over mine & they took. Didn't use rooting powder either but I read on gardenplansireland.com that if you scrape the bark from any willow & soak it in water, this 'juice' works as a rooting hormone. I might try it but so far I haven't needed it and most of my stuff is fine (honeysuckle, hebe, dog rose,fuchsia). I'll do a few more to-day and you're welcome to them when they take(I'm in Sandycove some thursdays, cd drop up to d'laoghaire en route)

I'm thick!
 

didnt quite get what you meant by your last bracketed sentence, but if i am included in being a 'receiver' i can meet up for a clip or two.
just wasnt sure thats why i ask so wont be presumptuous that i am included in this.
xminnie pal

plant cuttings
 

Minni Pal, that's exactly what I meant! I see from an earlier post your in d'laoghaire so it'd be no prob whenever i'm up your way to meet up. I'll post here when the cuttings have taken root (a week or two with a bit of luck, if they don't all go wonky on me now!). I'll take a good few more to spread around if anyone else wants some.
cheerio
M.

Thanks for the advice on the cuttings Mandolin, unfortunately I'm all the way down here in the West so won't be able to do any swapping with you :-). I have a couple more questions for you if you don't mind :-)
Is there a 'best' time of year to do this? Better to take them if they're Flowering / not flowering??
And finally, do you cut the top off the cutting too? Someone told me to do this once before but I remember taking lilac cuttings and they all failed :-( ... wonder if this was the reason?
Thanks
Only

Plant cuttings
 

Hi Only, 'fraid i'm no expert but I think while they're in full growth is a good time, so summer is good. And mine were in flower but I took the non-flowering shoots. I didn't cut the tops off but I did cut most of the leaves from the bottom up and only left 3 or 4 at the top. Never tried lilac though, maybe it's one of those difficult ones(like hawthorn which didn't work for me).
If it's a hard and woody stem then maybe autumn is better, i did fuchshia hard woody stems about a foot long last oct and all of them rooted and survived the cold winter outside so maybe that'd work with lilac.
Best of luck with them
M.

great mandolin
 

Thanks for answering mandolin! i look forward to hearing from you.
would it be ok if you PM me on this? I am not sure STILL how to work this site but one thing for sure, i seem to get notified when a pm is sent so that way I really, really know a quest, question, prob, request has been seen and answered!!!!!
xminnie pal