I laugh when my non-gardening friends say it must be great that you can take a rest from gardening If only they knew! I dug some of the oregano,catnip, sage, lavender, and peppermint from the garden in the autumn and repotted them in the house in pots suited to the size of my diggings The sage, peppermint, catnip, and oregano filled up the pots so I tipped them out, divided them with a knife, and repotted them. This is frugal gardening at its best. So far I have gotten four plants from one. Lavender and rosemary were propagated differently. I waited for them to become well established in pots . Then I bent down a small part of each plant to touch the soil. I used a bent piece of wire to hold the piece in place. This is called layering Then I sprinkled a bit of soil on top. In time these developed roots. I carefully cut the new plants from the old and transplanted them into small pots. These plants will be contributed to a plant sale at Plantasia for Herb Gardeners of the Niagara Frontier. Such fun!
I am also experimenting with hydroponics. I have just purchased my second Aerogarden. I had such fun growing tomatoes, herbs, and greens indoors. I am experimenting with basil cuttings because it is quicker to grow basil from cuttings than from seed. More fun!
I also purchased seeds for planting. If you choose to do this I cannot emphasize cleanliness enough . If you reuse seed starting trays or pots from previous years take the time to scrub them in soapy bleach water. Why go through all the time and work of seed starting only to loose the seedlings to fungal disease later when this simple step will stop most problems?
Some of you have asked me to share an interesting plant that I have grown from seed. I am including photos with this article so you can see one of them from last year. This one is called Hairy Balls, (As Dave Barry says, 'I am not making this up'). The scientific name is Gomphocarpus physocarpus. It is also called Asclepias physocarpus. The seeds may be purchased from both Seedman and Onalee's Seeds and Plants This plant is an annual and the fruits, the ball like structures may be used in flower arrangements. As you can see from the pictures, the beautiful flowers change into translucent soft shiny balloon-like structures which of course contain the seeds. I like this plant because it is an eye catcher and attracts monarch butterflies. I am sorry to say that I missed harvesting the seeds from my plants and have to purchase seeds again. I can only assume that while I was away the seeds floated away as do its other relatives in the milkweed family. When I returned the unharvested hairy balls had all split open.