Spring Plant Propagation Projects

 It has begun

I promised myself I would not get too carried away with gardening this year as I am focussing more seriously on my photography but that doesn't mean I won't allow myself a few fun projects!

So these are a few of the things I am trying alongside the regular veggie garden and perennial plots:

Seeds:

I am germinating it in a mix of peat-moss and yard dirt...it is my custom to always use my 'native soil' as the bulk of potting medium...yes, I'm kind of cheap that way. :) I don't normally buy peat moss and I don't think I will again- for my style of gardening it's rather too light a mass for the fine, dusty soil I have. Black earth would probably have been better but then again maybe not in these small pots.

Starting plants from seed

Then there are the peach twigs. I got a few branches from a gentleman in Kamloops this year and he generously provided me two varieties. Unfortunately the peaches had already started blooming which is not an ideal time to take wood for this kind of propagation technique but I am trying anyway. So far only one of about a dozen twigs has sprouted a leaf. The trees they came from produced amazingly abundant and delicious fruit...however:

Peach twig cuttings

In any case I bought catnip seeds because my cat loves the stuff- I may as well grow some of my own, dry it, and have an endless free supply. Also I bought trailing lobelia which I had never seen sold as seeds before. Both are very fine- tiny- particularly the lobelia.

Peaches and apricots only sometimes work out in our climate zone. We are in the Thompson Nicola Region of BC (that link goes to a general info website). Merritt is Zone 5a while Kamloops is 5b (warmer)...at least according to what I can figure out from the extremely poor plant hardiness zones map on the Canadian Government's website. 

 Natural Resources Canada's Map Server

I was so fed up with this that I looked back in my photos to find the photo of a sign that was mounted on the wall of a nursery in Kamloops that broke down the hardiness factor more distinctly and made a graphic to share. Call me cynical but I figure if the global warming trend continues this peach tree experiment will work out well. If weather the climate becomes less cold Canadians in general will have longer and more diversified growing seasons.

It should be mentioned that despite the signs implications Merritt's generally colder climate still will allow apricots fairly regularly under the right conditions. There is a lady one street behind me who has an apricot tree that produces fruit most years...while a friend who lives "on the bench" which is theoretically warmer in summer (but probably colder in winter!) is counting himself lucky to get a few apricots at all!

Plant hardiness zones for the Thompson Nicola Region