Selfsufficientish.com

Hello I would really appreicate some advice.

I have a long narrow field of about an acre which is currently the preserve of the hedge and Blackberry.

I want to grow stuff on it which is permanent and productive.

I also don't want to have to pay for the bulk of the plants.

To date I have come up with the following list which will provide usefull things for me, be capable of producing more plants to plant, and get better with wage.

Blackcurrant & other fruit bushes
Willow
Rhubarb
Comfrey
Strawberries
Horseraddish
Jerusalem Artichokes


I would like to include Lavender and Rosemarry but not really sure how easy hard wood cuttings are.

So you seasoned gardeners, what in your opinion are great plants which are reasonably easy to propogate once you have them?

I seem to have done really well with Brambles, nettles and docks, so best I move on now.

Propogation by cuttings and root division I love, it get the accountant in me all excited! Anyone got any great tips?

It partly depends on how "alternative" you want to be in terms of your planting. There are loads of plants that will be useful in various ways that you've probably never thought of as food plants.

Things like ferns - will grow in deeps shade amongst your trees etc produce fiddleheads in spring which are edible. Tilia (lime trees) have delicious leaves which can be eaten or made into tea.

There are far too many to list here but if you're interested get a book on forest gardening from the library (the 2 I've got cost £90+ so I wouldn't recommend buying them unless you're committed to the ideas )

The basic idea behind forest gardening is that it is a self-sustaining, permanent garden which produces something of use all year round. These could - food, fuel, fodder, insect-feeding etc. A lot of under-planting is used so you produce from all levels - from the trees to groundcover.

Rosemary,dead easy ,3'' long tips,remove leaves from bottom inch pot up 6 round the rimof a 2'' pot.water, cover round clear plastic bag leave on window sill.
Lavender ditto,may need a bit of bottom heat.

what time of Year is best Jerry?

You might want to be careful with some of the plants on your list - for example, both Jerusalem Artichokes and Horseradish have a reputation for being fairly hard to eradicate when you want to get rid of them. Willow would be a good choice IMHO - pretty quick and a good source of material for weaving (when very supple) and stakes when bigger ... just make sure the stakes are seasoned for a while before you use them or you could end up with another plant springing up!

Wulf

oldjerry wrote:Rosemary,dead easy ,3'' long tips,remove leaves from bottom inch pot up 6 round the rimof a 2'' pot.water, cover round clear plastic bag leave on window sill.
Lavender ditto,may need a bit of bottom heat.

Late summer Boboff and no need for bottom heat for lavender, treat it exactly the same as the rosemary. They root really easily. Leave in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse over winter (but take off the plastic bag by this stage) then pot on individually in the spring. By the following autumn you should have a large enough plant to plant out in its permanent position.

What about buying (sorry) some rootstocks for apples and other fruit. Just buy one of each, then propogate your own (basically by division, bury the rootstock under a mound and then seperating out the various shoots when they come up). With the rootstocks, graft on varieties begged, stolen or borrowed from others - soon have an orchard.
PS. Don't forget nettles

I like that idea graham.

How do I create more rootstock?

I just had a look on ebay, and they look like £2 each for the root. Happy to buy some, but how do I become sufficient in them?

Crackin idea though, thank you.

The nettles seem to do very well for themselves!

Hi Boboff,
Rhubarb and Jerusalem artichokes are both good robust and useful plants. They both yield a lot more if fed well and fresh plants started off from roots every couple of years. Nettles are great human and plant food.
Tony

Boboff, as i say basically you plant your rootstock during winter in the normal way and let it grow for one season to let it get established with good roots. The following winter cut the stem almost to ground level, then mound the earth over this so it is buried. Then when the plant starts to grow it should send up several shoots, let these grow and continue to earth them up, though not completely as they grow, adding no more than about another 6" of soil by the end. Then the following winter dig these up and seperate the new shooots with their own bit of root. Plant these out seperately, either to repeat the process, or with the bigger ones to graft your varieties on to.

What about also collecting seed from trees like hazel, walnut and sweet chestnut. It takes a time, you need to gather them fresh, keep moist, stratify them and plant them out (covered against squirrels). Takes a time, but hardly costs a penny.

For a proper forest garden you need to think in terms of a grid of big trees, inter-planted with smaller ones and then bushes between them, etc.

The best links otherwise for what you are trying to do are Plants for a Future and Martin Crawford at the Schumacher college. You can also visit Robert Harts forest garden in Hertfordshire (?).

Excellent, I understand now.

Great ideas, thank you,

Well following on from Grahams advice, the root stock has arrived and I am booked on a cource at Schumacher college in June. Serendipidously it's in Dartington near Totnes, which I didn't know, and is very close to both where I live, and where my Dad has a guest house.

I have to go and collect the books from the Library as suggested by Green Aura.

Thanks again for your help, its really exciting!

boboff wrote: Blackcurrant & other fruit bushes

Yes - blackcurrants are very easy to propagate. Annual prunings mean you will probably cut out 1/3rd of the sticks/canes per year. Chop into 6 to 8-inch segments and poke them into the ground (or pots). Make sure they don't dry out. 2 years later you could have a near full-size bush. Discarded prunings will still be alive months later so they are pretty indestructible.

PM me with your address if you want some blackcurrant sticks to start you off!

boboff wrote:Well following on from Grahams advice, the root stock has arrived and I am booked on a cource at Schumacher college in June. Serendipidously it's in Dartington near Totnes, which I didn't know, and is very close to both where I live, and where my Dad has a guest house.

I have to go and collect the books from the Library as suggested by Green Aura.

Thanks again for your help, its really exciting!

Lucky You,wish I was young/near enough to do likewise,I've got a book called Living Simply (or something similar )by a bloke who lectures there,and if he's typical ,it's a brilliant place.
While your at the library,check out the small green RHS publication 'propagation',worth it's weight.

Thanks Jerry.

It is really exciting. I have just been on You Tube watching films about it.... fantastic, 30 years would make me about the same age as the Fern guy, anyway, I can dream.

Got a great bonus book at the library, Alys Fowler Thrifty gardener, looks great! And she is lovely !

I am going to buy some top layer trees and get them in this year, mazzards and tall cherries and plums, as well as some nuts. Just dot them around to start the top canopy, what have I got to loose ?? I think I have that book at home, but its putting it in perspective I have trouble with.