Propagation and volunteering.

Part of my working week finds me at Wildegoose ( http://www.wildegoosenursery.co.uk ) in Shropshire. We truly are quite a rare nursery in that we propagate around 95% of the sales stock (rather than buying it in ) Our working day consists of sowing seeds, dividing perennials and taking cuttings by the hundreds. I initially started volunteering at Wildegoose , as I wanted to expand my propagation skills and plant knowledge . I have now been a member of the nursery team since 2021. It truly is a great place to work !

We propagate from late January through to late autumn , and as you can see in the above image , the heated propagation bench is literally full of seeds and cuttings . The matting the plant material sits on is set to 20 degrees C, which is a perfect temperature for germination and root growth for cuttings. An overhead mist irrigation system stops the cutting material from wilting and seeds from drying out , which provide perfect growing conditions .

Some seeds can ( and do ) germinate within a week, and cuttings have generally formed their roots within a month. They are then pricked out , potted up and grown on in the polytunnels and finally hardened off outside before they are ready for sale .

Many of the plants we grow at Wildgoose are from saved seed from the borders at the nursery. ( see images below ) We collect the ripe seed pods in the late autumn . They are then put into brown paper bags and kept in a cool and dry environment .

In early January we set about checking and cleaning the seed for sowing . With some there is actually very little to do . The image of Baptiste ( below) shows how the seed pod naturally dries out , and the seed just gathers naturally in the paper bag . With the Scabiosa, the seeds literally fall away from the seed head. On occasion , it is a little difficult to identify the seed from the chaff. There is always a solution though as Jack or Laura (who are the owners of Wildegoose) are an incredible source of practical horticultural knowledge.

Once the seed is ready to sow, we mix the growing medium . We use a peat free compost with perlite ( in a 50/50 mix ). Once sown, a thin layer of gravel tops the seed, unless the instructions are to sow on the surface and leave.

Eventhough , I have not started sowing seed for my garden yet , why not check the following blog Time. This was written in March 2022, and explains my process of when I start , and how I sow my flower seeds and why I use perlite when seed sowing.

In addition to working at Wildegoose, I am a professional gardener and designer. It really is a great career to be able to design gardens and plant out beautiful borders for customers. The images below are of some recent planting in Martin and Judy’s garden.

For more information about this garden, why not follow the link to Martin and Judy’s new garden. which charts my monthly visits over the last eighteen months . If you are considering a garden from scratch, it is worth a read , as to what can be achieved and more importantly how to achieve it .

And finally , last week I headed over to Wolverhampton , to spend my first practical volunteer gardening day with “ The Crafty Gardeners “ This is a Community Interest Company which provides opportunities,skills development,therapeutic health and employment related support through horticulture, crafts, enterprise and other activities. I am really looking forward to sharing all my practical horticultural skills with this group, and from April will be writing a monthly blog about our productive crop and flower adventures on their allotment.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog, and if you have , another will be along in a few weeks time.

Happy seed sowing and plant growing !

Sally .