Geraniums are grown as annuals, but they are actually tender perennials.
Clive’s Gardening Services was recently (Nov ’19) doing some winter planting at a clients
where he had to dispose of the geraniums he asked the client if he could have the plants
instead of throwing them away, to which the client agreed.
Back home Clive got the following ready, a bag of CGS organic compost, and the pots and saucers for the plants to go in.
In the bottom of each pot, Clive put a trowel full of gravel so the roots don’t rot when then stand in water.
Some of these geraniums were a bit drawn as the client hadn’t watered them through the summer due to ill health.
That wasn’t a problem, Clive took his Felco secateurs and cut above the second leave joint. The root ball was the section going in the pot.
To avoid wasting the tops Clive cut off the tops, stripped off the leaves, put a slit in the bottom of the stalk and then dipped it in hormone rooting powder (HRP),
once dipped as shown in the image, give it a good tap to knock off excess HRP then plant in a pot.
Due to winter storage space, Clive has put one cropped plant in the middle of a pot, then four cuttings around the outside.
From the same client, Clive also salvaged 3 Begonias which were also heading for landfills.
As Clive has four hanging baskets he decided to cut the largest one in half so he should end up with four plants next year.
Tops cut off and in their pots they are ready to be covered with CGS organic compost.
All your trimmings make good contributions to the compost heap which is decomposing slowly with the help of my compost worms.
Keep the pots in the sun until you here there is going to be a frost at night, then bring them in the greenhouse for the winter.
