Grow Healthy Berries For Free! 🫐

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Berries are Nature's original superfoods! They're  loaded with vitamins; low in carbs for those   looking to get 'the shine' and they're low in  fuss too! So you really should be growing them!   Hi, I'm Ben and if you want to get more berries  into your diet without forking out a pretty penny   at the grocery store, now's your chance to grow  them for free! Come on, let me show you how... First up is raspberries, which are one of the very  easiest soft fruits to grow because they virtually   propagate themselves! They grow by sending  out shoots from their roots called 'suckers'.   Some of these appear quite some distance from the  the main plant and we can take advantage of this   by simply lifting them up to plant elsewhere. So  ideally we want to look for suckers that are at   least about a foot or 30 centimetres from the main  plant so we don't damage it when we dig it up.   Once we've identified that, it's just a question  of getting the fork under there and digging   it up. And here we go- this is looking like a  really good sucker actually! Nice and strong!   If it was attached to the main parent plant, I'd  just cut it free before digging it up. Obviously   that bit there is dead wood. Now I'm going  to plant this into a hole exactly the same   depth it was at before - so about here - and then  once I've done that, just trim it down to about   10 inches or 25 centimeters tall, making a  cut just above a bud at a slant - like that,   there. And there we have it! Obviously keep this  well watered to help it establish - and this is   very very important - only take suckers like  this from really healthy disease-free plants.   That's important because you don't want to pass  on problems from one plant to the next. You can   transplant suckers like this at any time of year  but autumn or early spring before the buds burst   into leaf is best. Blueberries are a firm favorite  of any health-conscious fruit lover and in fact,   winter is the ideal time to take hardwood  cuttings of many fruit garden staples. Now, this   is my blueberry here which I planted last autumn  into a pot of acidic (or 'ericaceous') compost.   It's put on quite a lot of new growth  since then and we can use some of that   to propagate new plants. As you can see, the plant  here has still got quite a lot of leaves on it;   autumn has been very late indeed here. And in fact  the very best time to take hardwood cuttings of   blueberries is towards the end of winter, once the  plant has had a bit of a winter chilling period.   But I'm going to take some cuttings now just to  demonstrate how to do that. So what we're looking   for is good young stems like this - nice and  straight and strong. That's perfect. And you can   tell the younger wood by the color of the stem;  either pale green or red and it's a lot lighter   than the darker wood down here towards the base of  the plant. So all I'm going to do is just take my   material here and then we'll trim them up shortly.  So we want to trim the cuttings down to about   six inches or 15 centimeters in size. Before  we do that we're just going to sterilize our   pruners or secateurs here using a mix of about  one part household bleach to five parts water,   and that just makes sure we're not carrying  over any disease. Keep it nice and clean.   Right, to trim them I'm going to cut just  below a leaf node - that's where the bud   appears from - and cut a nice  straight cut across the bottom,   like that. And then at the top of the cutting  I'm going to give a slightly slanted cut. What   that does is, if I get mixed up, it means I know  which end is up - so that it doesn't get planted   upside down by accident! Once you have your  cuttings it's time to pot them up and I'm using a   really low-nutrient, free-draining mix here of  just coconut coir fibre and some perlite added   in as well for really good drainage. You could  use, say, coarse sand, coir and pine bark for   example - anything that gives a free-draining mix  and plenty of air at the roots - and that's what   these cuttings need. I'm going to dip them into  this hormone rooting gel. They are also available   as powders. It's not essential but it does up  the chances of the cuttings rooting successfully,   so you may as well right?! So just dip them in and  then they're going in to about half their depth.   Each little node that is underground  should eventually produce some roots,   so getting about half the cutting in there ensures  that there's plenty of chance for root growth.   I'm popping the cuttings in around the side of  the pot. This actually also helps with drainage   and keeps the cuttings further apart from each  other so that their roots won't get too enmeshed.   With them all done, I'm going to give them a  really good water. And then it's important to   put them somewhere sheltered like a cold  frame for example or against the house.   You need to keep them sheltered from very  strong sunshine in their first summer.   Keep the potting medium nice and moist  here and then by the end of next autumn   they should have roots on them and you should  be able to separate them out and plant them. Now is also the ideal time to take hardwood  cuttings of currants and gooseberries as well   as many tree fruits like fig and mulberry and even  grape vines. And unlike blueberries, they can be   taken at any time during the 'dormant season' -  so from autumn right through to the end of winter.   This is a quiet time of year in the garden so if  you're itching to grow something, then this should   keep you busy! Summer fruits are delicious but the  work starts now in winter and this is honestly one   of the very easiest ways to start them off! I  brought you over here to show you these four   blackcurrant bushes here. These were actually  taken from cuttings just three years ago and   they've already started to form really good-sized  bushes. I'm actually quite confident they should   flower and fruit very soon - perhaps as early  as next summer. Now, did you know that the vast   majority of blackcurrants go into making fruit  cordials?! In fact something around 90 percent!   But I think we should be eating currants in their  own right because they're delicious fruits, so   I hope you're encouraged to give them a go! You  can take your hardwood cuttings at the same time   as pruning your currants or gooseberries. Just use  the offcuts. I love it when nothing goes to waste   like that! The ideal time to take your cuttings is  in mid-autumn, just after the leaves have fallen   but you can wait until the end of winter, just  before they burst into leaf. Now, you want to take   your cuttings from younger material and you can  tell that by the colour of the stem. These stems   are a lot paler than the older wood further down  the bush here, so you know what to take. Ideally   you want them about pencil thickness, so these  here absolutely perfect! Now let's trim them   down to size. We want our cuttings about a foot or  30 centimeters in length. (Do make sure that your   secateurs or pruners are properly sterilized  before doing all of this.) Cut just below a bud,   giving a straight flat cut like that and  then cut the top at a slant just above a bud,   making the slant just going away from the  bud. And what that does is it means there's   less risk of water sort of congregating near  the bud and causing it to rot. And of course,   it makes it easier to identify which end of  the cutting is up! Here we've got our prepared   cuttings. So these ones are of blackcurrants.  They're a foot length as I said - ready to go!   These ones here are gooseberries and what you want  to do with gooseberries as well as red currants   and white currants is actually just pick off  these lower buds so that you leave just the top   three or four buds. And the reason we do this  is that these plants grow on a short stem   so that you have the the bush growth on a sort of  'leg' if you like; a clear stem. So do that with   the gooseberries, red currants and white currants  - but the black currants, we leave as they are.   When it comes to planting your cuttings, you've  got two options: in the ground or in pots. I'll   show you how to do both methods, starting with  in the ground. Now, when they're in the ground   you want an area that's got good, well-drained  soil. This had a compost heap on it recently so   there's no need to add any more fertility  to it. It needs to be sheltered because   you want them to have no stress or strain as  they're growing. So what I'm doing here is I'm   just digging a little trench along the ground  and that's where the cuttings will go into   the soil. Here it's pretty well-drained but just  to make absolutely sure I'm gonna add a little   bit of coarse or sharp sand into the bottom of  the trench - here, like that - just tickle it   in. And that'll just really help with drainage. If  your soil is quite heavy and it doesn't drain very   well, then this I think is a very important step.  I've now just got to push the cuttings into place   and they're going about half to two-thirds  deep and about six inches to a foot (that's   15 to 30 centimetres) apart, so they don't  grow into each other. The roots stay apart   and then just firm them in, like that. These  will be left where they are, out of the way - and   transplanted next autumn. If you don't have lots  of cuttings or you don't have much garden space   to spare then they grow really well in pots. The  pots will need to be deep enough to accommodate   the quite long cuttings, so something like this  is ideal. Fill it with a good mix of potting mix   cut with, say, some coarse sharp sand  and that'll really help with drainage,   like we've discussed before. So with the pot  filled, I just need to pop my cuttings in.   Just push them down to about half to two-thirds  the depth of the cutting that might seem quite   deep but there'll be roots coming along from those  nodes that are under the surface there. Again I'm   putting them towards the edge of the pot so  that they aren't competing with each other. Lovely stuff! Now all I need to do is move this  somewhere sheltered; a greenhouse or cold frame   again is ideal. Somewhere out of the worst of  the cold and that'll also help protect them from   potential browsers like rabbits and deer. Keep it  well-watered again and then by next autumn they   should be good to separate out and plant. You  may see some new growth by the end of spring.   Here are some cuttings a few months after taking  them and if we remove them from their container   you can see they've already produced some  roots. Leave your cuttings untouched though;   you want them to remain in their pot or in the  ground where they are for at least a year before   either carefully separating them out or digging  them up to transplant into their final growing   positions. If they produce any flower buds before  this point, just pick them off to concentrate   the young plant's energy on root formation.  And here are the cuttings about 16 months   after taking them in the spring of their second  year. You can see how much growth they put on!   They had a really fantastic root system by this  point. Holes were dug into prepared soil enriched   with plenty of garden compost and the young  plants popped into place and firmed in. And   here they are planted - that's a rhubarb in  the middle - and then again another year on.   Don't forget that excess berries are easily frozen  so there's really no risk of going overboard when   including these 'berry' good for you fruits in  your garden! Now, will you be using any of these   methods to grow more berries and get them into  your garden? Join in the conversation down below!   Just you wait till I tell you what we've  got coming up next time - a fabulous foray   into the fantastic world of fungi! Homegrown  mushrooms? Yes sireee! You won't want to miss it   so please make sure you're subscribed and have  turned on all notifications. Now if you want to   bulk out your strawberry patch, do be sure to  check out this video. I'll catch you next time.
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Channel: GrowVeg
Views: 274,837
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Keywords: keto, paleo, keto diet, blueberries, grow blueberries, organic gardening, grow raspberries, low carb diet, low carbohydrate foods, antioxidant foods, how to grow fruit at home, how to grow fruit from cuttings, how to grow berries, grow soft fruit, soft fruit from cuttings, how to take cuttings, currants, grow organic fruit, fruit bushes in pots, fruit bushes, what to grow in autumn, what to grow in winter, grow superfoods, grow cheap superfoods, gooseberries, grape vine cuttings
Id: RgkC5I7NpUA
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Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)
Published: Sat Nov 27 2021
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