With all of the recent rains, we have the best opportunity to make plans for improving our gardens, installing better drainage and thinking of new plantings.
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In the dormant period of the year, you have the task of pruning back your fruit and nut trees, berries and vines. Sometimes you may wish to increase plantings by propagating from your own trees and vines. This is quite achievable with a number of fruits and grapevines, though the largest group of fruit trees are best propagated by grafting onto a hardy rootstock.
For figs, quinces and even pears, you will need to take cuttings from a two- or three-year-old branch (not new growth wood). Trim the length to around 25-30 centimetres long – make a direct, flat cut across at the basal end. If you have taken the cutting from the middle of a branch then cut the tip at an angle and seal it off with grafting compound to prevent infection.
Dip the base of the cutting into a rooting hormone compound then and plant it 12-15cm deep into a pot filled with a good potting mix (which includes sand and peat). It is worth preparing four or five cuttings for each pot, to ensure success.
Create a miniature glasshouse by removing the top of a two or four litre plastic bottle and inverting it over the pot. The pot should be placed in a warm spot, near a north-facing window, for example. Make sure to keep the soil slightly damp but not over wet. When new growth appears (which is also indicative that roots have formed) remove the cover. When the cuttings are well established, transplant them into individual pots or into a nursery bed for the first summer. Next winter is the time to then plant them out into the general garden.
Figs
The fig tree is one that is always grown on its own root from cuttings. It may be that you already have a shoot coming out of the ground, with an established root system. Such saplings are the easiest of all. Make sure to use a sharp-edged implement, so that you are not fraying the wood and so that you can remove all of the spreading roots with the sapling. Remember to take a length of a thin two-year-old branch from the tree, with a thickness akin to that of your thumb.
Quinces
Quinces are another fruit that can be propagated quite easily from two-year-old hardwood cuttings. As with the fig, take a cutting that is about 25cm in length, during the early winter dormant period (late June) and place it into the cuttings pot. Quince trees grown from cuttings should be producing a crop in five years. They will tend to produce some suckers each year, so these will need to be removed.
Olives
With olives, take cuttings about 25cm long from the tip of the olive branch. The thickness of the cutting should be that of a pencil. Remove all of the leaves from the bottom half of the cutting, then dip into the rooting hormone. Prepare the holes in the planting pot with a similar-sized stick, to avoid damaging the cuttings when you go to plant them. Make sure the potting mix does not dry out by regularly spraying the pot with water, misting the foliage as well. Roots will take about three months to get established, so you will need some commitment to begin this project.
This week in the Garden
- Plant out onion, leek and spring onion seedlings.
- Plant open-leaf lettuces, rocket and spinach seeds into propagation trays.
- Prepare a deep bed with lots of added compost for planting a row or two of rhubarb sets and asparagus crowns.
- Protect young citrus from the impact of heavy frosts by setting up protection using hessian to wrap around some posts set close to the tree. Do not undertake any pruning of the old and dead foliage until late spring as it will provide additional protection for emerging leaves. Spray citrus with a light winter oil to smother scale pests.
- Prune back all two-year-old brambleberry and raspberry canes. Carefully gather together small groupings of the new season canes and tie up to wire supports.
Owen Pidgeon runs the Loriendale Organic Orchard near Hall.
