Renewal

05 Jun 2016 3 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Inspiration, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Hi everyone,

Winter has arrived with a vengeance – hard frosts last week and now milder temperatures but heavy rain and flooding with a big east coast low running down from the sub tropics. And the beginning of winter is also the renewal date for my WordPress account. What better way to celebrate than write a blog post about renewal ❤

I’m still recovering from the horror virus that’s doing the rounds and having to take it quite a lot easier than I anticipated the past couple of weeks. But I’ve been busy finishing off one Griffith University unit (Television Studies) and starting another (New Media: Communications in the Electronic Age), though my brain really isn’t up to being terribly academic at the moment. While it’s seriously throwing out my schedule, being ill has reminded me that sometimes it’s more important to sit back and watch things grow for a wee while.

Whenever there’s been a respite from the cold and more recently the rain, I’ve made a point of going down to spend time with the bunnies and chickens and simply revel in the garden and its amazing renewal with the recent rain – and just watch things grow for a little while 😀

Some of my favourite plants are the small, often forgotten little herbs. Most people who cook grow them, but often we take them for granted but at the right time of year, in the right light they are incredibly beautiful to look at.

IMG_20160522_105136

This is the tiny and delicate Orange Peel Thyme (Thymus richardii ssp. nitidus) which comes originally from Sicily. It has a gorgeous thyme fragrance, mixed with orange zest and grows like a mat, making it ideal for containers or rockery edges. I really like it with chicken dishes but it also works well with apple jelly.

IMG_20160522_105101

Above is the delectable Lebanese Oregano, also known as Greek Oregano or Zaatar Leaf (Origanum syriacum), undoubtedly one of my favourite culinary herbs. The soft blush on the leaves is typical of this upright herb, that grows into an open shrub that can get quite straggly if it isn’t cut back each year after flowering. The taste is quite intense and different to either Marjoram or Oregano and it is a wonderful herb for barbecue meats, roasts and chopped finely over baked vegetables.

And after a few days without looking at the vegetables and quite a lot of rain – look what I found! This was the first head from the late summer/autumn plantings and it was delicious, lightly steamed 😀

IMG_20160522_105838

Of course, as I’m sure all you fellow gardeners will understand spending time even just walking around your patch makes you think of all the work that needs to be done. Gardening is a never ending job, always a work in progress!

All the rain has meant the weeds are coming back in force and it’s going to take some dedicated time over the coming weeks to stay on top of it. Spent raspberry canes need cutting and in some cases, dividing and transplanting into a new raspberry bed. The rhubarb is ready to be divided too and the plum and nectarine trees need some final pruning to tidy them up now they’ve finally dropped all their leaves.

Also, I’ve got new fruit trees arriving soon and there’s a lot of preparation to do for them. I’m quite excited though as most of the new trees are on dwarfing rootstock and all will be going into half plastic drums that I’m going to set up as wicking containers similar to the balcony boxes I did back in January. I’ll be doing a blog post about it and photographing the process. (The balcony boxes are doing well by the way, with onions, chicory and coriander still going strong and three about to be replanted with winter greens – rocket, spinach and vitamin green).

Watching the frost pattern last week also made me consider planting some out of season potatoes in pots in the greenhouse as an experiment. Another project for another blog post when I’m recovered 😀

Meanwhile, the baby bunnies are growing very fast and will be ready to be sold next weekend as pets or grown on for butchering in another month or so. While some people have issues with this, I like to take responsibility for at least some of the meat I consume. And I do the slaughtering and butchering myself so I know they are humanely dispatched. This will be the last litter for a while as I don’t like to put either of my doe rabbits through the stress of winter birthing and rearing. I find it’s better all round to wait until spring.

I’ll leave you with the first Marigold in full bloom – the only one that grew from an old packet of seed.

IMG_20160522_105025

Take care wherever you are and whenever you can, take time to watch things grow  ❤

Debut! – The Superstars

29 May 2016 8 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Music, Performance, Singing, Tasmania, Teaching, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

Well, we did it!

On Friday The Superstars had their debut performance outside of OAK Tasmania – and it was a HUGE success!

Final Rehearsal L-R: Tim, Sally, Kelly [back], Megan and Kathryn

Final Rehearsal L-R: Tim, Sally, Kelly [back], Megan and Kathryn

We were asked to come and play at the Ability to Create exhibition opening at Waterside Pavilion, Mawson Place down at the docks in Hobart. It was a very grey, showery day but we had a great time – and I think the audience did too!

An example of the beautiful art work we helped to open

An example of the beautiful art work we helped to open

I cannot begin to tell you all how proud I am of this group. I’ve been away, trying to recover from a really nasty virus – but even without me cracking the whip, they’ve still been rehearsing and honing their performance skills. And all their hard work and talent shone through ❤

Kelly singing up a storm! [Photo courtesy of Chris Rules]

Kelly singing up a storm! [Photo courtesy of Chris Rules]

And of course there was dancing! [Photo courtesy Chris Rules]

Finally, it’s important to acknowledge that a lot goes on behind the scenes to make The Superstars happen that most people don’t see. None of this would happen without the support of OAK and their fabulous staff. Giving their best for the clients is their job and they do that brilliantly – but the support and encouragement they give me as a contract tutor cannot be overstated. You know who you are – thank you ❤

IMG_20160527_123527

 

Sickness and Shakespeare

21 May 2016 9 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Inspiration, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , ,

It’s been a wild week – in more ways than one!

In truth, I feel more than a little cheated. After unseasonably warm weather, I was out in the rain and wind and got cold early in the week. I even picked ripe strawberries earlier in the week!

IMG_20160516_162001

I started to get the sniffles on Wednesday and by Thursday I was a mess! I’ve spent (for me) a lot of time in bed with David Tennant and a box of tissues.

Now before you get the wrong idea, I’ve been watching and (when I’ve been able to) reading a lot of Doctor Who for my current unit at Griffith University. Doctor Who has become a legitimate area of academic study, which makes me even more inclined to consider post grad work in Screen Studies! So I re-watched a good deal of the Tenth Doctor. Although I really like all the actors cast as the Doctor, I think Tennant has been my favourite so far, largely because of his versatility 😀

So I’ve been watching Tennant in Hamlet (Doran 2009) with Patrick Stewart and Much Ado About Nothing (Rourke 2011) with the utterly brilliant Catherine Tate. That led on to Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V and (somehow) to Excalibur (Boorman 1981) which features the late Nicol Williamson as Merlin, one of the greatest actors of his generation and reputedly the best Hamlet ever.

Last night I moved on to The Hollow Crown: Richard II and tonight I’m planning to snuggle up with Jeremy Irons in The Hollow Crown: Henry IV and if I last long enough, Tom Hiddleston in The Hollow Crown: Henry V. Apparently, there’s a new season coming out this year and I also want to  – more DVDs I need to find room for 😀

As you might have gathered by now, I love Shakespeare. I was thinking recently with all the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death that I should re-watch what I’ve got and replenish my collection. For me it’s the musicality of the language, the silliness of the comedies, the depth of the tragedies – it’s pure comfort food when I’m feeling like this. While I’m still sniffly, it’s nothing more than an autumn virus but it’s left me very foggy and aching.

Those of you who follow my blog will be pleased to know that the Elderberry Cordial I made earlier this year is a winner! I’ve been having a hot cordial before going to sleep and it’s really helped break this virus – and it tastes lovely 😀

So there’s been little gardening but the autumn vegetables are booming (next week I must plant onions!) and the six baby rabbits are turning into eating machines!

IMG_20160517_153210

Finally, (and I’ll likely be soundly told off for this!) it was this beautiful little cherub’s 24th birthday earlier this week and I think this is my favourite photograph of him as a little boy. I cannot begin to express how much this man has changed my life – undoubtedly for the better – and how proud I am of him and to be his mother. Of the many things I’ve done in my life, he is without doubt the finest.

IMG_20160517_124901

Anyway, I’m off to bed with Jeremy Irons and an Elderberry Cordial. Wherever you all are, I hope you’re well and happy ❤

Do you like Shakespeare? What’s your favourite play? Leave a comment below – I love to hear from you all! 

Surviving the Storm – A Sunday Night Recap

15 May 2016 1 Comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Cooking, Produce, Rabbits, Tasmania, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, it’s been quite a week! I’m not sure where it disappeared to, but I’m rugged up on the couch and it’s Sunday night here in Hobart.

At the moment, Tasmania is in the path of a series of westerly fronts, bringing much needed rain but some very damaging winds. There was some respite yesterday so I took the opportunity to spend some time in the garden, rearranging mulch, repairing torn bird netting and salvaging what I could of the broccoli crop.

And of course, I got to spend some quality time with the chickens and the now month old rabbits ❤

IMG_20160507_145557

Earlier this week I processed the rest of the chestnut crop, which was pretty poor this year due to very little rain in summer and no water to spare for the trees. But I find them so delicious and useful that every little piece has become precious to me and my family. I’d never really paid much attention to chestnuts until I moved here, with a mature tree in the backyard that provides several kilos of nuts every autumn with minimal care.

For any of you interested in how I process them, I did a post here a couple of years ago.

On Friday, I got a parcel in the post from a woman I met through Facebook, who lives in northern Tasmania. In it was a self addressed post bag for some chilli seeds – and two beautiful, handmade beanies.

IMG_20160515_223623

The photo doesn’t really do them justice, they are really a very dark black and a luscious purple – my favourite colour 🙂  Fran is also a blogger and you can find her here. I finished packaging her seeds during the week, I’ve been drying them slowly on paper.

IMG_20160513_210229Like most repetitive tasks, I think there’s something incredible meditative about sorting seeds. For me it’s akin to weeding or planting but a little more demanding, particularly when you’re trying to keep track of numbers and sort out obvious broken or dud seeds – much easier with peas and beans!

Nevertheless, it’s one of those jobs that I really enjoy doing on a cold night with some good music or a favourite movie on.

One thing I should’ve done though is wear gloves. Despite using broad head tweezers, I still got enough capanoids on my fingers to sting!

Once sorted, I put the seeds into paper packets I make from old (preferably heavy weight) paper. The recent batch for all my seeds this autumn came from some old (and quite dreadful) music books I found in the local tip shop. Although I revere books, I’ve recycled these so that no innocent child is ever forced to play those songs again – they are truly dreadful!

 

IMG_20160515_223754

I think the finished product looks rather nice and I hope Fran and her family enjoy the produce. One day we’ll meet in person I’m sure 🙂

The rain and wind came back with a vengeance today, so I took the opportunity to catch up with my current studies at Griffith University. I’m doing an online degree and this unit is Television Studies. My head is still full of textual analysis and particularly David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. For something most of us take for granted, television is really quite a complex and surprisingly demanding area of study – and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning some of the history and depth of the medium. This week I have to finish drafting my major essay on the enduring appeal of Doctor Who which has meant I’ve had to watch quite a lot of it (mostly David Tennant) in recent weeks.

Seriously, I love my life 😀

Stay well and be happy wherever you are ❤

Introducing – The Superstars!

08 May 2016 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Inspiration, Music, Performance, Singing, Teaching Tags: , , , , ,

I’ve been meaning to write this for a couple of weeks but life got in the way as it tends to. Nevertheless, here it is!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends around the world,

Let me introduce you to The Superstars 😀

13048103_1065289146845761_8620366701194124834_o

The Superstars [photo courtesy of Chris Rules]

From left to right: Megan, Kelli-Lee, Kathryn, Sally, me, Jacqui, Brendon and Tim.

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to get a weekly gig, playing music every Monday at OAK Tasmania. OAK do a lot of things but where I work, they provide recreational services to people with disabilities. My job was basically to be a human jukebox for an hour and a half every week to a discerning and quite demanding audience!

As time progressed, I started to make some really strong friendships with some of the folks I was playing for and I eventually started doing a separate session, tutoring a group that performed at the in-house end of year parties.

Since the start of this year I’ve been working one morning a week with a smaller crew and we’re playing our first show later this month. I’m unbelievably proud of these people and how hard they work – and I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we have together!

We talked a lot about a name and Kathryn (our newest member) came up with The Superstars! We all agreed it was the best description of everyone in the group, who all bring something special to the songs we perform.

In particular, I’ve been working a lot with Jacqui, who was very uncertain about crowds, doesn’t like lots of noise and tends to be quite shy. Now, she joins in the general silliness, even dances sometimes and she sings – wow does she sing! We’ve become quite close and I treasure her kind, gentle, loving friendship.

The Superstars05resize

Jacqui and me [photo courtesy of Chris Rules]

I believe everyone has talents and abilities that you might not see at first glance and these wonderful people are no different. I’m privileged to work with them ❤

Hobart folks, The Superstars will be performing at the Ability to Create art exhibition opening at Waterside Pavilion Friday May 27th at 1 pm. Come down and celebrate with us 😀

Strange Days – Autumn 2016

06 May 2016 4 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Preserving, Produce, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In light of all the sadness of recent times, I thought I’d give an update on the urban farm. Along with music, writing and all my magnificent friends, this has undoubtedly been the glue that’s been holding everything together these past months inside my head.

I’m grateful not only that I have these things in my life but I recognise and celebrate their importance.

IMG_20160424_105032

As I type, we’ve finally had some rain but it has been a very warm and dry autumn for southern Tasmania. In years past, the Prune Plum pictured above would be bare stems by now but early May and it still refuses to drop its leaves!

Elsewhere around the garden there’s other odd things happening……

IMG_20160430_115111

The picture above is some of my Raspberries that really shouldn’t be producing this late in the season – they are generally a summer only variety! And in the greenhouse, I discovered Strawberries and new flowers and fruit on many of the chillies!

One of the better things about this protracted warm weather has been the amount of growth in the vegetable garden. I’ve been literally inundated with chillies this season and they’re not letting up – some of the well established plants are still flowering and setting fruit!

At the moment, I’ve got the dehydrator packed with the last of the Roma tomatoes and various chillies and the basil is just crazy! The winter broccoli is starting to head and there’s plenty of growth on the Silverbeet (Swiss Chard) and the winter Endive and Chicory plants are almost ready to start picking. The Asparagus I grew from seed over the summer is looking positively lush in its permanent bed, producing lots of surprisingly large feathery fronds before winter bites. My big fear at the moment is that all the Kale I’ve planted will bolt to seed before it’s big enough to pick!

I’m going to do a last big cut of Rhubarb this weekend and cook it up for winter desserts. Then, once the plants shut down for winter, I’m going to dig all the crowns up and divide them. For any of you in Tasmania, contact me if you want a Rhubarb crown – I’m happy to barter 😀

And then there’s these little moppets…….

IMG_20160425_095919

They’re three weeks old now, their eyes are open and they’re out “exploring” (read constantly annoying their mother). In truth, I’d given up on Bella being pregnant (this was the second time she’d been serviced by our lovely buck) and I’d even put her back in her regular two tiered hutch near the others in preparation for winter. She is so big it’s really hard to tell if she’s pregnant anymore!

Then my gorgeous neighbour Karen came up early Saturday 16th April to let me know she found a little pink, blind newborn outside Bella’s hutch. (She is now officially the Best Neighbour Ever!) We all raced out to find two in a nest Bella had made in her upstairs sleeping area and about four more in the bottom of her hutch. They were cold so it was all hands on deck! Normally, I don’t like to disturb or touch newborns until they have their fur but we had little baby buns up our jumpers (I even had one in my bra) to warm them while we carefully checked the rest of the hutch and made sure Bella was alright. We ended up with a very smug mamma and six very healthy little kits ❤

Last weekend we moved them all back into the ground level nursery hutch and everyone’s thriving 😀

Tuesday we had the first snow on kunanyi/Mt Wellington for the year and I went to Launceston on Wednesday to attend a memorial service for Kevin Gleeson, who passed away recently. While it was great to catch up with many friends, it was a very sad day. When I was driving up, I noticed deciduous trees (looked like Prunus sp.) budding up and flowering – strange days indeed!

Take care friends, wherever you are and may all your gardens grow well ❤

More Goodbyes

27 Apr 2016 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Inspiration, Music, Tasmania Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Hello friends,

It’s been a rough month. In fact, it’s been a really rough year and it’s only April. I confess I’ve been putting off writing this even though I know the act of doing so will be therapeutic.

In late February, my friend Jeff Weston passed away after a long illness, then another elderly friend passed away in early March. Late last month, my friend Leon Turner passed away peacefully up in New South Wales. I met him in the early 1980s through his youngest son Michael, who is a truly gifted songwriter and still the best rhythm guitarist I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

Leon was cheeky, irreverent and had a delightfully wicked sense of humour. I’m sad that I couldn’t make it up to his memorial service but he will not be forgotten by me and all who knew him.  Vale to The Cuddly Man ❤

13043682_10154759676552908_2635438587877892419_n

Leon Michael Turner 1930-2016

Then, last week my friend Kevin Gleeson passed away. Although he was a handy bass player, Kevin was best known in music circles across Tasmania and interstate for his fierce passion for live local music. There are very few musicians in the original scene statewide (and across all genres) who wouldn’t have come across Kevin as a sound engineer, gig promoter, or enthusiastic punter who just loved going to live gigs. He helped many of us any way he could and was always thinking of new gigs he could set up to showcase new acts as well as keep people like me with paid shows. He didn’t do it for any monetary gain, he did it because he loved the music and the people who made and performed it.

Last week, I went into 936 ABC Hobart with Katie Warren (another incredibly talented local muso) and we talked on air about Kevin and what he meant to us. It was undoubtedly one of the hardest gigs I’ve ever had to do. (Huge thanks to Jo Spargo for making this link available.)

Perhaps the most difficult thing about Kevin’s passing is how sudden it was, although he had been seriously ill for several years. And unlike the other folks I’ve been mourning, he was relatively young – a similar age to me. It hammers it home how precious and fleeting this life is. Vale my friend, may you rest easy ❤

150932_10200183001966794_695554641_n

Kevin Gleeson 1960-2016 [Photo by Mark Young]

As I said recently on social media, I don’t place much store in concepts of any kind of afterlife, but I hope that Kev is having a great time at The Big Gig in the Sky, dancing forever with his beloved, who also left us way too soon a few years ago.

So, my mantra is live your life well, with honesty and integrity and love unreservedly.

Life is short.

In Print!

01 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Articles, Biography, Writing Tags: , ,

A very quick note to any of you who might be interested – my copy of Tasmania + arrived this afternoon, which includes an article I wrote on the jazz scene in Tasmania. (Huge thanks to Kaye Payne for letting me interview you – I learnt heaps!)

Tasmania + is available through most larger newsagents throughout the state and is a large-format, glossy magazine. If you can’t find it, try contacting Focal Printing in North Hobart.

It’s always nice to be in print 😀

IMG_20160401_145317

The Bride of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer – Book Review

01 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Book Review, Creative Writing, Inspiration, Writing Tags: , , , , , , ,

As some of you are no doubt aware, I love reading as well as writing and have a Goodreads account that I’m starting to use more. Here’s a review I wrote this morning of a little pulp novel I picked up recently from my favourite bookshop, Cracked and Spineless New and Used Books. Thanks Richard 😀

The Bride of Fu ManchuThe Bride of Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I remember reading a lot of my father’s Sax Rohmer books when I was a child, so this was both a trip down memory lane and some light reading over the last week or so, nothing to do with uni study.

One of the things that I’ve always liked about Rohmer was his ability to write action and suspense and this one in particular has lots of the evil Dr, which makes for good reading. The premise of Fu Manchu developing a new insect-borne plague to unleash on the world is really quite good and inspired many other writers (including Ian Fleming) and is still a viable plot device in the 21st century.

Of course, the few women are pigeonholed into the usual stereotypes – bumbling domestic bit-player (Madam Dubonnet) femme fatale (Fah lo Suee) and the helpless heroine who constantly needs saving (Fleurette) and the men really don’t fare that much better! Alan Sterling, the narrator for this outing is about as bland as a hero can be, but how he reacts to some of his trials is quite good.

But this is a book of its time and irrespective of the incredibly dated gender politics it’s still a good pulp read.

Do you enjoy reading? What are your favourite genres/books/authors? Leave a comment – I love to hear from you! 

Plants From Prunings – More Autumn Jobs!

17 Mar 2016 8 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Produce, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

IMG_20160317_104202

Hi everyone,

Autumn is starting to settle on southern Tasmania. The days are now noticeably shorter, the chickens are laying a few less eggs and we’re preparing for a cold change overnight and a major rain event in the next 24 hours. Fingers crossed, this will fall where it’s needed, fill all our tanks and not do too much damage!

I’ve been run off my feet trying to get as many winter vegetables ready and planted out before it gets really cold but I remembered this morning to keep up with the autumn cuttings! There are three main types of stem cuttings that generally fall into different parts of the year – softwood in spring and summer, semi-hardwood in late summer and autumn and hardwood in late autumn and winter (after leaf drop).

A couple of weeks ago I pruned and thinned out my two Blueberry plants (Vaccinium sp.) that currently live in two tubs. They produced over a kilo of fruit this summer so, in an effort to improve on this crop, I planted approximately 60 small cuttings directly into a nursery flat (tray). Hopefully, I’ll have enough young plants from this to put in a hedge of Blueberries and some to give away to family as presents next xmas.

IMG_20160317_164636

Blueberry cuttings [L] and mixed tray of berries and herbs [R]

Many people I know, even experienced gardeners, seem to be a little shy about propagating plants from cuttings but once you know what to look for, it’s really quite fun, can save a lot of money and provide gifts for other gardening friends and family. This is also called striking or asexual propagation, and is a much faster way to get new perennials than growing from seed. Unlike seed raising though, there is no genetic diversity – we are taking a piece of the plant, putting it in a growing medium and encouraging the piece to form roots and grow.

Some plants strike more readily than others. For instance, Bay (Laurus nobilis) and many of the most beautiful Australian natives can be notoriously difficult even for the experienced, whereas plants like Sage (Salvia officinalis), the Rosemary forms (Rosmarinus sp.) and even Lavenders (Lavandula sp.) can be really quite easy.

Many professional horticulturists use rooting hormones to dip their cuttings in before planting, and these powders and gels are widely available now to home gardeners. While this can help increase strike rates and give a boost to node and root production on hard to strike plants, they do contain some pretty nasty chemicals. I tend not to use anything except very fresh cutting material and if I really feel it’s warranted, (for Bay trees for instance) I use a tablespoon of unadulterated honey dissolved in a half cup of warm water and dip the cuttings just before planting. When I had access to it, I’ve also used small sticks or bark peelings of Crack Willow (Salix fragilis) – which is a weed in Tasmania – soaked in water overnight. Much safer than commercial chemicals 🙂

The big secret to success is before starting, make sure everything is really clean – the pots or trays you want to use, secateurs (and make sure they’re sharp!), the surface you’re working on and of course, your hands. By the way, because of the spines I wore gloves when doing the berry cuttings and made sure they were very clean too. I use a good quality seed raising mix and usually fill the pots and/or trays with the mix and water it before starting doing the cuttings. And make sure you have labels, a marker or pencil and a something clean to make holes in the mix – this has the delightful name of a “dibble stick”. I use a pH tester that lives in the greenhouse – the metal rod is the perfect size for this job.

Today I did a mixed tray of my favourite Boysenberry, Youngberry and Silvanberry that needed pruning, some very special Lebanese Oregano or Za’atar Leaf (Oreganum syriacum) and my favourite Rosemary form (Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’).

Because I was using a mix of pots today, I took a mix of cutting lengths to suit. I start by filling the pots, watering them and using the dibble stick to make a hole in each pot.  Then I went out and trimmed back the first plant I wanted to propagate, the Boysenberry.

First, make a diagonal cut just below a leaf. This little lump is called a node and is a “hot spot” for potential root growth in the soon-to-be new plant. Next, make a clean cut four or five nodes above my first diagonal cut and, leaving the top for the moment, carefully trim the leaves off the two or three nodes in between, making sure to trim as close to the stem as possible. It should look something like this little Boysenberry below :

IMG_20160317_104327

Sometimes, if the top leaves are particularly big they might need to be clipped in half too. Carefully put the cutting into a prepared pot and very gently press the soil around the stem. Continue until you’ve got what you need, label immediately and water lightly – a mist bottle is great for this!

This time of the year when there’s still some warmth in the sun, I leave them in a mostly shady spot in the greenhouse, down the bottom of one of my shelves. You can create a mini greenhouse, using a plastic bag with a few holes poked in it if you’re doing a tray inside.

IMG_20160317_164646

Do you propagate your own plants? What are your top tips for success and best plants? Leave a comment below. 

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries