Over the last six months Darren and I have been making over our front garden and filling in gaps in our back garden. Unfortunately due to the almost continuous lockdowns this year we have not been able to buy plants for such a long time, Our local garden and hardware stores have been closed to the general public and I've not been game to do any online ordering for plants.
So we've kind of been stuck for new plants. As I've been weeding our gardens on a regular basis I've been looking under plants to see if they have grown little seedlings. To my surprise I've found many little plants hiding out of sight. I've scraped away the mulch and gently dug up the seedlings and replanted them to help fill out our garden.
Over 20 years ago we planted many lavender plants along our driveway, only to have them all die about a year later. Fast forward to earlier this year and we found about 8 - 10 had popped up again out of the blue. How exciting and such a surprise. I've dug them up and replanted in various locations.
I've also taken cuttings from the few plants we did buy earlier this year. A new Hebe plant we bought has given us many new plants from cuttings and I've been able to give one to my parents. Darren has even grown a few hydrangea cuttings from a plant his Mum gave us many years ago.
When the garden shops reopen we can't wait to buy a few different plants to complete our garden transformation. While we await that glorious day, we've saved hundreds of dollars and our garden is looking fabulous ( all things considered ).
Below are some of the freebies we've found and nurtured.
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| Snapdragon seedling we found. |
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| Federation daisy we've grown from a cutting |
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| Osteospermum and lavender plants that popped up |
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| A Hebe plant we grew from a cutting |
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| Grown from a cutting |
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| Alyssum - the ;plant that gives many seedlings |
Succulents :)
ReplyDeleteI love to walk with my children and find succulent leaves on the ground and propagate. I also love to take cuttings from my other succulents and regrow. Such a satisfying feeling :)
Your garden looks lovely Wendy. I love succulents and they are great for our climate in SA. They reproduce so quickly and easily, and I put them on the local buy/sell group at reasonable prices. The plants I sell enables me to purchase other items at the garden centre for free from the money I got from selling my plants, so it's a win/win sitaution for me!
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I have managed to use my non green thumb and not been as successful as I should have been. We do have herbs growing again and I need to extend the range. At present there is lemon grass, Greek basil, ordinary basil, lemon balm, flat and curly parsley, rosemary and some very sad peas that do not like heat. I can spend so much on herbs that is well worth the effort to grow some.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add that my granddaughter loves her pot plants and her other grandparents have given her a real garden at the age of just four.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say I am so encouraged by. your stories of gardening and making do.
I love poking around in the garden and finding free plants. It is amazing sometimes how big things can grow before I notice them. We have lots of herbs that seed themselves around, but this year was the first in 30+ years of gardening that I found a self-seeded lavender. Usually I take cuttings. Our lockdown gardening took the form of moving things about that we already had, planting seeds from old packets in whatever pots and soil we had to hand and enjoying the short films made by amateur gardeners showing how they were coping on the BBC programme Gardeners World.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful Wendy, and such a credit to you both having such a pretty garden on such a small budget....well done. Simone
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I love plant volunteers. What a shame that your hardware stores and garden centres have been closed. Here I'm Nova Scotia Canada those were deemed essential. Because hardware stores you need to buy stuff to fix things in your home and garden centres are used for growing your own food and also the betterment of your mental health.
ReplyDeleteI hope they open soon for you.
Lisa
Every year we get many tomato volunteers and usually some potatoes. My elderberry bushes pop up babies from runners underground and next year I will pot them to sell or give away. My two big bushes give me more than enough berries for the 2 of us.
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