Now might be the time to try growing plants from root cuttings

By Nigel Colborn

Published: 14:54 EDT, 20 October 2013 | Updated: 12:13 EDT, 22 October 2013

Feeling ambitious? Then now might be the time to try growing plants from root cuttings.

The process works with any herbaceous plant which has thick roots. Try it with eryngiums, perennial poppies, anchusas, pulmonarias and many more.

Dig up a mature plant and remove a few of the thicker roots, cutting near the crown.

Herbaceous borders of Poppies (Papaver orientale Beauty of Livermere), Peonies (Paeonia sp.), Asphodeline lutea, Day Lilies (Hemerocallis sp.) and Geranium in June

Re-plant the parent. Snip your gathered roots into 5 to 10cm lengths.

Cut the upper part at right angles and the lower part obliquely — so you’ll know which end is which.

Discard the skinny end bits. Fill a pot or seed tray with a mix of sterile potting compost and grit. Lay thin root sections on the surface and cover with more compost.

Push thicker sections into the compost vertically, oblique end down.

Cover with more compost, water the pots and place in a coldframe, sheltered spot or under greenhouse staging. Pot your babies up when they sprout next spring.

Leave any windfall apples or pears outside for thrushes and other birds

FEED THE BIRDS

Hungry times are on the way for wildlife as hedgerow and street tree berries are gradually consumed.

Leave any windfall apples or pears — or unwanted purchased fruits — outside for thrushes and other birds.

If you have a pond with dying vegetation, remove as many of the dead or dying leaves as you can, without disturbing the water too much — frogs often hibernate deep in pond water and will not want to be awoken.

Turn the tree out of its current pot and carefully tease out any compacted roots

POTTED FRUITS

Fruit trees grown in containers may have become pot-bound over summer, and should be re-potted before winter ends.

Select a roomy container which will not be blown over by the wind.

Turn the tree out of its current pot and carefully tease out any compacted roots.

Re-pot using a loam-based compost such as John Innes.

Water and, if necessary, stake the stem to reduce movement while the roots settle down. After potting, prune damaged branches and pick off any remaining leaves or wizened fruits.

READER QUESTION

We planted a ‘Reuben’ blackberry in a 35-litre pot, but instead of being sweet, they were sour. I used fertiliser every two weeks and grew them in garden compost mixed with proprietary potting compost topped with bark chips. What went wrong?

R. H . S . Dauncey, Chertsey, Surrey.

‘Reuben’ is a revolutionary blackberry which bears fruit on the current year’s growth — like an autumn raspberry — and has large, juicy berries. Cultivated blackberries are always more acidic and less sweet than wild ones, but are usually larger and a lot juicier.

To ripen fully they need warmth, full sun and should not be gathered until soft, juicy and easy to pick.

Re-pot in good quality, purchased potting compost. Forget the mulch — you don’t need it — and train the stems on a south or south-west facing fence for maximum sun.

Plant of the week

Growing as a big shrub, Cornus mas 'Variegata' never looks boring

Cornus mas ‘Variegata’

Name any day, winter or summer, and there’ll be a dogwood which looks superb.

In spring, flowered varieties outdo magnolias for spectacular blossoms — and even in darkest November small dogwoods will delight with their brightly coloured stems.

But for yearround value, Cornus mas ‘Variegata’ is probably the best. Growing as a big shrub, it never looks boring.

From January, tiny yellow blossoms create a golden cloud among the gloom. The leaves in April are vividly two-toned in creamy white and green, while September brings shiny red berries.

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