Cuttings

Here I go with the tunias again. I've spent way too much time lately reading and watching videos about petunias. I know my current petunias are not Super, but they look healthy and I did throw a couple grains of fertilizer at them a few days ago. I decided to take some cuttings and see how far into the winter I can make it.

I wanted to use clear plastic cups for the cuttings so I could see the growing roots, if any. I found some hard plastic cups in the cupboard and decided to drill holes in the bottom. A big drill bit cracked the bottom of the first one, but it was still together enough that I used it. I used a much smaller bit on the next three. They still cracked, but not as badly. (Next time, get flexible plastic cups.)

Some interweb sources said the soil doesn't have to be anything special for petunia cuttings, so I used extra garden soil. I ran it through the soil sifter to take out the larger chucks of wood. I put those in the compost bin, which needs more brown stuff. After I filled the glasses with soil, I soaked them thoroughly. I then attacked the petunia pot, taking cuttings 4-6 inches in length just below a leaf as the YouTube videos suggest. I peeled off the lower leaves, made a hole in the dirt with a pencil, and inserted the cuttings. The first one I took was spread too wide, but I was more careful selecting the other three and I inverted a small cup on top to act as a humidity dome. I guess we will see if a humidity dome makes a difference.

The four cuttings are still in the greenhouse, but I will bring them home to the garage seed room eventually. I don't know if I will have the patience to nurse these through the winter. It's probably more of a proof of concept for next year.

My other project today was finishing the shelves above the bench. In the early part of the week I stained three 12x48 pine boards, and today I attached them to the brackets. I know the shelves are very close together, but there isn't a lot of wall space above the bench. This image shows the shelves bringing order to the space, with the four petunia cuttings front and center. Or actually a bit to the right.

Next, mums. I've been debating what to do with the two garden mums I picked up in August. Some interweb sources suggest sticking them in the cool, dark corner of an unheated garage. Our garage is heated to 50, doesn't really have a dark corner, and doesn't have a lot of excess space. Our furnace room is dark, but it is not cool. It's a furnace room! All of our stalls have a car parked in them. Mums are supposed to be hardy to Zone 5, which we are ever since global warming kicked in, and I'm thinking now I will bury the mum pots in the greenhouse planters. I can't do it now because there is only one unused spot, where the radishes used to be. Something else needs to go away so I can bury both pots. "Could you please tell the sorrel I want to see it in my office..." As mid-November approaches, the sorrel may get dug up and accidentally end up in a neglected pot. (I'm also thinking about accidentally putting the tomatillo in a wood chipper. It takes up way too much room.)

As I mentioned before, both mums have been deadheaded and I've been waiting to see if new blossoms put on a show. One of the plants has a few orange blooms scattered around the lower part near the pot rim. The other one has nothing. I presume the flowering mum was yellow in its earlier incarnation because the other one was purple. There are still some tight little buds on both plants and something might yet happen.