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Photo credits: (left, Tin Man Gardening), (top right, https://neinvasives.com), (bottom right, AngieC via. Picfair)
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The past few weeks I have failed and succeeded with
propagating bramble, raspberries, and bindweed.
My fondest memories of gardening when I was very little was
pottering around in the garden picking the fruit and showing my harvest off to
my Nan. Berries are a great way to start in foraging and they are also great for
birds (who will spread the seeds).
Blackberries
I have always loved picking blackberries during the summer
and this year I had plans to ‘domesticate’ this violent plant so I don’t have
to crawl into unruly bushes.
Attempt 1:
I just took cuttings, pinned them down using plant support
clips (bought from Tiger), and watered frequently.
Unfortunately, they very quickly cooked in the sun and died.
Attempt 2:
Then, I tried the ‘become your opponent’ approach and decided
to put my pot under a fast-growing shoot. My reasoning for this was this is how
bramble would naturally propagate so it should work.
Then, my mother cut the stalk I was propagating and I had
another death on my hands.
Attempt 3: the success!
I noticed that the bramble with the best looking and best
tasting berries were in the shaded part of my garden. So I took a small pot of
water and placed it under another shoot and eventually it grew roots!
I did have to check on it every day because it kept falling
out of the pot and my dog kept knocking it over!
Finally, I took the cuttings and planted them. I chose to
move the pot next to the big bushes because I guess that’s where the berries
like to grow. You will also see in the photos that there are two long vines
shoved into the pot, and that is because I tripped on them and they had roots
(they were growing into the ground).
Raspberries:
I haven’t yet had any success with raspberries, but I am in
the middle of my experiments so I will edit this post and update it.
Attempt 1:
I took a cutting and placed it in a pot of water. I believe
it shrivelled and died because I chose a piece with berries – the plant will
put all its energy into growing the best fruit and not into growing roots
Bindweed:
I love bindweed’s beautiful flowers and I wanted some that
weren’t killing all of my plants. My success here is a bit boring but I hope
you enjoy it.
Attempt 1:
In water, yet again. I mainly grow succulents so this method
is my go-to as I don’t need to buy anything!
After a few weeks, the plant had not grown any roots, and
then it started to grow out of the pot. I think this was the plant’s way of
telling me they hated the water.
Attempt 2: the success!
While I was taking the photos of the potted bramble, I noticed
there was bindweed growing on the grass.
By tracing back on the vines, I found roots in the soil. Not
quite propagation on my behalf, but it still worked. You will need to be very
careful when pulling them up because they snap pretty easily.
I hope you are able to use the methods I have detailed and
grow some plants of your own!
----> Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, Nate.
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