Rooting Plants

I have a new (really easy) hobby:  Rooting plants!  Here is one of my windowsills, filled with various vases full of plants that are rooting.

I'm very interested in being as "self-sufficient" (i.e., growing my own food, being DIY) as possible.  Part of this is taking one plant and making two, or "borrowing" a twig from a friend and turning it into a plant of my own.  It's very, very frugal!

And did I meantion easy?

Many plants can root well directly in soil, but I like to start all my clippings in water first.  If gives them a great start.

Here is a clipping of a sweet potato vine (one of my absolute favorites) that I rooted a few weeks ago. 

The best plants to attempt to root are ground covers (like ivy).  I've also found that coleus and basil are fantastic "rooters."

First, use scissors or small garden shears to cut a three- to four-inch section of a plant.  Make sure that the section you choose has at least two "nodes," or point on the plant from where the leaves/flowers grow.

Second, place the clipping in a vase or jar of water, and make sure it gets plenty of sunlight. 

Within 3 days to several weeks, your clipping will look like this:

(sweet potato vine)

(coleus)

(basil)

Then you can dig a hole and gentle place the stalk--and its brand new roots--into the desired location.

Multiply your garden!