Tips for Dirt-Cheap Gardening

7 Ways to Increase Your Plantings Cheaply

Obtaining plants for your garden can run up potentially enormous expenses in your gardening budget, depending on the plants you want and how you go about getting them. However, with a little investigation and some hands-on propagation, you can be thrifty and have all your favorite plants.

Multiply Your Plants by Learning to Propagate

Cutting a piece from a plant and having a whole new plant form may seem like magic to nongardeners, comparable to cutting off your finger and growing a twin, but taking cuttings is easy. You can take cuttings from the stem, leaves, or roots of various plant species. It is a step-by-step procedure with varying rates of success, depending on the plant and your proficiency. Getting cuttings is another story. If you already have plants of which you want more, of course it is quite simple. But if the plant of your dreams is in a stranger’s yard or a park, the acquisition becomes not only a challenge, but also an opportunity.

There will always be exceptions, but few gardeners object to a friendly compliment about their plantings. And what greater compliment than to so admire something another gardener has grown that you politely ask for a cutting? It can be a doubly rewarding experience; you get plants and make friends. If you appear presentable, courteous, and knowledgeable, you will assuage any fears that you might damage their precious plants. Offer to propagate a cutting for the gardener, as well as yourself. This one almost always works!

How to Take Leaf Cuttings

1. Cut a healthy leaf from the parent plant.

2. If you must transport it, wrap the leaf in a moist towel.

3. Place it in a moist rooting medium. There are different ways to do this. The leaf may be set upright so the blade is in contact with the rooting medium. You also can cut several nicks along the length of the veins and press the leaf flat, veinside down, in the rooting medium. Or cut the leaf lengthwise and insert into the rooting medium with the cut side down to expose the veins.

4. Cover with clear plastic.

5. Water it and keep away from direct sunlight.

6. Pot new plants after a few leaves appear.

The First Step to Big Savings: Good Soil