Lazy, impatient gardener

Have I ever mentioned that the name 'The Tenacious Gardener' was not my first choice of name for my blog? Nor my second, nor even my third, in fact it was low on the list of the choices I made. My first choice was the Lazy gardener because that describes me to a tee, the second was the impatient gardener because again perfect description and my other choices included 'The make do gardener', 'The sow it and see gardener', 'The pot luck gardener' and many other similar choices that ended up either being taken or decided against.
'The Tenacious Gardener' really doesn't describe me with as much accuracy as all or any of the above, in fact pretty much every meaning of the word Tenacious is a stretch to describe me - persistant, tireless, unswerving, unshakeable, purposeful, patient - yup, those certainly do not describe me.
So I'm wondering whether it's possible to change a blog name and it's something I'm going to look into.

And it's with reference to my lazy attitude toward gardening that I show you this

These are the seed trays and propagators that I grow seed in year after year and as you can tell I have never bothered washing them between sowings - slap the back of my hand!
I give them a brush out but that's it and I then I moan and moan about the quality of seeds when they fail to germinate, or if they do germinate they get leggy and/or damp off.
Alan Titchmarsh recently did a snippet somewhere on the importance of clean seed trays and propagators - all of which I already knew of course but I really am a lazy gardener.  However I decided this year that I'm going to do the right thing so I've scrubbed those seed trays and propagators and took the time to sow seed properly (something I also usually do as quickly as possible with no real thought).
 
I had a carrier bag full of seed packets to sow this year but I went through the lot and chose only the ones I know I really want to grow. This year the main priority is the main garden so I'm not growing any veg and am instead using the polytunnel to grow lots of cut flowers. Here's what I was left with

There's more there than there looks but they include various poppies, Lupin, Hollyhock, Dahlia (never grown that from seed before), Sweetpea, Echinacea, Aster, Callendula and lots lots more. I also have given Phormium Tenax another go and some Pieris a first try - if these are not a success I'll buy the plants rather than try again.

Over a few days I filled trays with compost and sowed all those seeds and instead of putting them out in the PT where I'll forget about them I kept them indoors so the window sills are currently propagating benches. I also have one heated propagator which is housing those seeds that require heat to germinate, now all I can do is be patient and that's a struggle for me, I tend to give seed 2 weeks to sprout and then I throw them out. Not happening this year though, I've taken time to sow these properly so I'm expecting a decent crop form the seeds.

Successful Cornus cuttings - finally!

Last time I blogged I posted about a fabulous website called Mikes Backyard Nursery so I thought it was time to follow up with one of the methods Mike suggested for taking cuttings.
I usually take Cornus cuttings in the dormant season and to be honest my past attempts at them have been pretty pathetic - I've taken heaps but only ever had one cutting successfully root and survive (though i suspect this is through my own impatience than anything else), so when I saw Mikes article on taking cuttings and rooting them in sand I figured I'd give it a go.

Mike uses 'flats' that he builds himself from off cuts of wood but I used a plastic tub with drainage holes drilled in the bottom instead.
The idea is to half fill the tub with sand, add the cuttings and then saturate the sand with water. Mike suggests cramming as many cuttings in as you like and this is how he manages to make hundreds or thousands of cuttings each season.
Once the cuttings are in and the sand saturated you simply insert the whole thing into a white plastic bag, supported in all 4 corners with pencils in my case, and then leave it somewhere to do its thing - mine stayed in the PT out of direct sunlight.

To be honest I was sceptical about this method, I honestly did not think it would work so I was a tad unconcerned about keeping an eye on it and by the time I gave it a second thought I figured the cuttings would have wilted and died.
So I was totally surprised when I took a peek and saw this.

A few of the Weigela cuttings may have died off but the majority of the cuttings were happy, healthy and surprisingly well rooted - even the Cornus, that plant that I have had such trouble propagating all these years.
In total I had about an 80% success rate which for me is nothing short of amazing and I believe that if I'f been more attentive to the plants then the success rate would have increased more.
Once my back has recovered I will be taking loads more cuttings using this method and next year I will be taking even more of the things I don't usually bother with because I've failed so many times in the past.
Thank you Mike McGroarty of Mikes Backyard Nursery and Freeplants.com

Mike's Backyard Gardening

A serious lack of gardening lately has left me scouring the interweb for gardening websites and blogs that will see me through the winter months when it's too cold to be motivated outside.
Along with the the blogs I regularly read without fail (though I often forget to comment) that are listed on the right hand side I've managed to find a few new ones and one in particular has really had me hooked as it is full of brilliant information and tips.

It's called  Mike's Backyard Nursery and while many of you may already know of the website I'll explain what is interesting about Mike to those who aren't familiar with him.
Mike and his wife live in Ohio and have worked extremely hard, clawed their way out of bankruptcy and set up a successful business from their own home selling nursery plants. What amazes me about this guy having read his story in his own words is that he happily and enthusiastically shares his successes, his failures and his own methods with the general public despite residing in an area that is already rife with competition having at least 130 wholesale growers within a 10 mile radius of his property.
It's not often I read the 'about me' section of a website or blog because I feel I get a good idea of a persons character when reading their posts but something made me want to understand where Mike came from and what bought about this passion for sharing his business methods. His story is available here and it is well worth a read, in fact it wouldn't be out of place on the big screen.

Mike's Backyard Nursery is a website jam packed with useful information whether your passion is simply creating your own garden and propagating for it or if you're interested in using your own plant material and garden space and having a go at selling propagated plants from home. Mike's hints, tips and ideas will certainly have you saving money on plants whether it be from propagating, swapping or selling.

Mike also has some great ideas for building your own tools for the job and shows you how he makes these things work for him, such as these "propagation flats"

Mike also has hints and tips on all aspects of pruning, some of which may differ from what we think we already know such as "How to prune a Butterfly bush"

The information that Mike makes available to his followers doesn't end on his website, he has a Youtube channel you can subscribe to full of interesting videos he has made on various topics from topsoil to pruning to potting bench plans.
And he doesn't stop there either, Mike has created a FREE Ebook titled "The Gardener's secret handbook" which you can download FREE and is also available on Facebook

The points I have included in this post really are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mikes website, it is literally full of information as is his Youtube channel and the Ebook link where there is an information bar on the left packed with further reading.

Now that I've filled you guys in I'm off back to Mike's to learn a bit more about how he does what he does.