BS: Gardening, 2009

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Feb 09 - 01:05 PM

We hate throwing plastic away even if it does supposedly get recycled so we keep alot of clear plastic containers that food comes in... Costco sells wondefull organic spinich in one that is about 8" tall, 8" wide and maybe 14" long... This container makes for a wonderfull seed starter and keeping the the top closed also acts as a little hot house... I'd bet that most everyone just throws these away or in the recycling bin...

No need to spend extra dough if ya have these...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 22 Feb 09 - 12:01 PM

What Maggie says is true, especially if you have time to carefully monitor. It made sense for me to invest in seed-starting because I did it extensively and for so long. But if you just want to grow one flat of plants, or are not sure how much you want to get into it, those $2.00 trays at Dollar General or Wally World are the way to go.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 22 Feb 09 - 11:56 AM

Mary,

If you just set out a few of any particular veggie and are happy with the varieties commonly offered at garden centers, it probably is more cost-efficient to buy seedlings. If you want to plant a bunch of anything, starting your own plants ffrom seeds is more cost efficient. If you like to try different varieties, are interested in heirlooms, or have a preference for varieties that are not commonly available at garden centers, seeds are the way to go.

I would do it without a grow light ONLY if you have a sunny, southfacing window where you can place the seed-starting tray and can control somewhat for temperature. If the window is sunny but cool because of cold outside temps, things like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, which require warm soil temperatures to germinate and thrive won't do well. You will need to turn the tray 1/4 turn daily.   Without sufficient light, seedlings are weak and leggy.

Overhead lights are entirely insufficient, regardless of the type of light bulb or tube you use.    Grow lights usually are height-adjustable and should be positioned just a couple of inches above the plants to provide sufficient light. In addition, incandescent lights do not have a sufficient spectrum.   Although you can buy special spectrum lights for grow-light systems, regular florescent lights work plenty well enough, and are a little less expensive.

If you are going to buy a seed starting kit, I would suggest you consider Gardener's Supply
APS system. The up-front cost is a little higher, but the cells and trays are extremely durable and last for years. I've been using this system for 10 years and have never had to buy any replacement cells or trays. I don't fool with their seed-starting mix. It's nice, but not necessary. Any good quality potting soil will work just fine.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Feb 09 - 11:38 AM

You can find plant trays like that for a couple of bucks each at the local Dollar General store (here in Texas). Putting some cellophane over the top would take care of the clear cover. But it looks like a tidy arrangement if you don't want to work out the setup yourself.

We have a warmer day today, without the wind of yesterday. My garden is calling. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 22 Feb 09 - 11:14 AM

OK here's a question. My brother wants to go in together and buy the Burpee Ultimate Growing System so we can start our own tomato, squash, okra, cucumber, etc. plants. Last year I bought the little plants at the local garden center and they did great. I could put the system in a room upstairs, but would I need to rig up lights to shine directly on the plantlings, or would just the overhead lights in the room do if I left them on for several hours a day? Advice from other gardeners much appreciated.

I've got a feeling Bobert was right that I planted the peas and lettuce too early. We had some majorly cold weather after that brief warm spell that inspired me.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:40 PM

Lowe's has primroses in. I've never had enough shade to grow them before. It seems a bit early to plant them out, so I didn't buy any, but think I'll grab some in another week to try in pots.

I wasn't situated in the fall to plant violas, and am eagerly keeping my eyes open to snatch some when they are in the garden centers. Violas are about my favorite annual. I love the look of them tumbling out of the side holes of strawberry pots.

Joybell, what do you plant in the fall?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:34 PM

Oops. One of these days I'll start using preview. What I was trying to say is even if I took down all the trees on the front of my lot (and nearly all of lot is front yard), the tall and dense stands of trees immediately to my east, south and west would still limit the amount of sun.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:31 PM

I'm not sure I could get enough sun, Maggie, unless nearly all of the trees were taken down.

There are thick stands of tall trees immediately to the east, south and west of my lot, which is about 110 feet wide. Even if I took down every tree in the front and on the east, those stands would still limit the sun to the minimal amount needed for a veggie garden to do well. The lot behind my house is clear, and I only have 3 large trees behind the house, but two of them are split by the property line. It is also north of all the other trees and the house. This house is oddly situated on the rear northwest corner of the property and there isn't much space behind the house. It is all front yard, which faces and slopes south. These were not trees that were planted. Rather, the lots on my street were woods, and the trees were thinned. They are very, very tall with narrow canopies as they have had to compete with one another to reach for the sun, as happens in woods and forest. If I cut everything down, it would still just be a small clearing and only the very center of the clearing would get 5-6 hours of sun.

My sister and I have taken out a bunch of small trees and gobs of saplings. I do have one rather large oak that I am going to have to have an arborist take a look at as I am noticing a big chunk of bark right at the base appears to have loosened from the wood itself and in the crack around the margins it looks like the cambium layer may be dead underneath.   There are also a couple of holes through the bark near the base that look like boring insect holes. Given the evidence of older trees taken down with hollow centers, and one sickly hickory that was no more than 9-12 inches at the base that Sis and I took down and which proved to be hollow at the base and filled with "sawdust" (but no bugs in obvious evidence),   I'm concerned.    If it were to fall it could take most of the house with it.   If it needs to come down it is much, much too big for my sister and I to do it, and will probably cost 2000-2500 to have taken down.

Having said all that, there is one area of the rear side yard on the east that gets 4-5 hours of mostly morning sun in the summer, and if I take out a dogwood to the west of that area I may get enough sun to make a go of a small summer veggie garden. There is only me and my son on alternate weeks, so I don't really need for tomatos, cukes, squash, etc. to bear heavily to meet our needs for fresh produce, and no longer have a freezer or the time to do canning.

It just occurred to me that I could stick with shade ornamentals and subscribe to one of the several CSA's in the area. Still, there is nothing so satisfying as getting home from work and going out to the garden to harvest most of what will be on the table for supper.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 10:15 AM

But if she wants vegetables, Bobert, she'll need some sunlight. I'm not proposing a clear cut, just a partial cut, thinning where needed. :)

Starlings may be annoying little birds, but they have a memory. And if you go out and bang a trash can or something else noisy enough to startle them a few times, they'll stay out of the trees in the yard for the rest of the season "perching in large numbers in urban trees season."

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 08:02 AM

Fried junko... Yeah, they are small but about 4 of the little guys will fill ya' up... Awww, jus' funnin'... I loves all the birdies...

(Starlings too, Boberdz???)

Well, okay, not "all"...

As fir oak trees... Our shade gardens are under oak trees and they do fine... It's all in soil prep... So put that chain saw down, Janie....

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 07:07 AM

Walked out the door this morning to discover the juncos polishing off the last of the lettuce seeds I had pressed into the soil in those pots! It's off to Southern States for a bit of chicken wire to lid the pots with before I replant.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:13 PM

Seriously. If the trees are an impediment to what you REALLY want to do in your yard, then modify the yard so you can do what you want. Most people struggle to get some kind of tree cover over their houses, but you've moved into a place where not only are the trees well-established, they've excluded all other activities. It's time to decide what you want to do, and where the best place is to do it. Then take out the trees that are in the way.

Pull up your socks, Janie. Tell those trees who is boss! :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:34 AM

Oaks are not friendly to things in their understory.....not friendly at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:26 AM

You know, Janie, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, trees aren't sacred. I grew up in logging country, I know. You could cut a couple down. Strategic logging.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 07:32 AM

Sounds like raised beds and soaker hoses for you, Janie... That will do the trick... Also somewhat easier that having to dig...

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Beer
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 12:29 AM

I must remember to get my "grass" seeds.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 10:55 PM

That's good--I wondered if you had a horrible plan for native ungulates in your area.   ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 09:08 PM

That would be "deeper" foundations.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 09:07 PM

Watering the foundation, interesting notion that I have never heard of! I wonder if it would be effective on non-slab-built houses with deeer foundations, or if it would take too much water? The house I bought had to have significant foundation work done before I purchased it, the result of the 3 year extreme drought that sort of ended this past summer. ( Happened with lots of houses that had stood 40 years or more with no problem. The water tables dropped so low, and the clay dried out so deep that pockets of space developed in the subsoil below foundations and houses settled, sometimes rather severely.

Daffodils are beginning to bloom here also. I'm noticing some tulips emerging. Doesn't look like there are a lot of bulbs that were planted on this property, but it is fun to discover what there is. Bradford Pear buds are swollen and turning the branches hazy green. There are some very early ornamental cherries blooming on UNC's campus. I expect frost will get them.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:51 PM

Down here in Texas everyone "waters the foundation," runs soaker hoses about 18 inches out from the house, to keep the slap from heaving or cracking in the really dry and hot season. I plant the things that need more continual watering around the foundation where they get that extra water. Some iris, some native hibiscus, and the cannas that I evicted from by the front porch. I put them in at the side of the house and they get enough sun and regular rain. They'll have been in that spot for almost a year now, so this year they should be spectacular. Last year they looked better than they ever had before. Since they weren't in my way I treated them with more respect. :)

I weeded today in an iris and daffodil bed I put in last fall. Mostly creeping Charlie (in the mint family) and a winter grass. Easy to pull. The daffodils are beginning to bloom, and the irises are putting on foliage.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:38 PM

My parents planted a couple of catawba rhodies 20 + years ago against the back and side of the house. They are both now taller than the 2 story house and darn near as wide. In full bloom in late spring they are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

I've got the part shade and the acid soil they need, but all these oak trees suck up rain water as fast as it falls. Given our hot summers, I think they would require too much supplemental watering to thrive over time, and a non-thriving rhodie is a squirrelly thing to behold.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 11:54 AM

My mother took peonies from her yard in Everett to her new yard in Seattle when she moved, it was a favorite variety of hers. And I have friends who have transplanted their rhododendrons and azaleas when they move, even writing it into the sales contracts. Some of those rhodies can get very large, like the size of a small house.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:24 AM

Mary, herbaceous peonies will thrive here in Maine with very little care. Soil preparation and sun exposure are important, and autumn is the preferred time to divide and transplant for our region. If any peonies you buy or are given have 4-5 eyes (the growing buds at ground level when dormant) they should bloom the next spring after fall planting. Fewer eyes simply means the plant will need time to grow before bloom is possible.

The main mistake people make in our region is to plant the "eyes" more than 1-2" deep, or they dump compost or manure over the eyes year after year; effectively burying the very part that needs to be near the surface. There are beautiful old peony varieties that have weak stems and flop their pretty blossoms into the mud the first time it rains. Other varieties are strong-stemmed and can withstand quite a bit of wind and rain.

Talk to me about what you want and I'll see if I can help. I also may have a lead on rhody starts. You will want to do a fair amount of soil preparation before you get any new shrubs.

maeve

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 07:57 AM

Peonies can indeed be divided at the root to propagate, but don't expect flower in the first 12 - 18 months after this.

My experience with peonies is that they sulk, if moved or divided :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 07:49 AM

Yup...

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 01:19 AM

Azaleas and rhodys are ridiculously easy to grow--if you live in the Puget Sound area. They're native, or so close to native as to blend with the native varieties of things. Everywhere else, just duplicate the moist acid soil with good drainage and lots of rain of the Pacific Northwest. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:38 PM

I have found the ultimate indestructible plant - hens and chickens. I got some in small pots from Maeve two years ago. This is their second winter on the back porch under several feet of snow and ice and still they not only live but grow. Go figure.

I bet when I finally plant them, they will die lol

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 07:34 PM

Yeah, Mark... Don't wear sandals... lol...

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: GUEST,MarkS (on the road)
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 06:52 PM

Put in a garlic patch last fall and kept it under straw mulch all winter - the shoots are not starting to poke up.
Also - got a bunch of parts for the drip irrigator we used last year. It is sturdy but the header pipe will not stand up to being run over by the tiller.
Thinking about using a Garden Dragon (flame weeder) this year. Anybody have any experience with them?
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 06:21 PM

Rhodos are very tricky, Sins... I will have the P-Vine talk about how it is done tomorrow... She has choir prectitice tonight...

Peonies, to the best of my knowledge, cannot be grown from cuttings but can be divided at the root...

Well, we have just made a deal with a guy who we are lettin' take down some sickly locust trees for firewood to use his trailer to get us a load of chicken litter (manuer) so hopefully we'll have the veggie garden ready for the tiller man...

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 11:46 AM

Trees are on 70% off sale right now. I'm going to get a couple of fruit trees, take all of the dirt off and plant them like bare-root trees. It's better for them, it turns out, than planting them in the dirt in their bucket and ending up with them root bound or planted too deep.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 10:23 AM

Leo, this is a northerner amazed at the length of the growing season. But actually, it is a bifurcated season--March, April, May, maybe June, are okay, but then July and August are "keep it wet, try to shade it, cross your fingers it stays alive till fall" months. Growth resumes in September and October.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:47 AM

How about peonies?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:46 AM

Thanks Bobert. Will the same procedure work for rhododendrons? My property is bare because every time I think I can buy plants, something else breaks. Free works for me.
Mary

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:37 AM

Y'know - by the time spring hits my area I'm exhausted from reading what you southerners have been doing for months.

That's my new excuse for this year.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:11 AM

SRS has brought up another thing that I have noticed... The big box stores, such as Home Depot and Lowes, buy alot of product from various nurseries and if ya' know yer plants you can and will find bargains at those stores... Especially as the various seasons wind down...

Exmaples:

Alaskian Pines- 16" plants, nice, $2.00 each at Lowes in December

Mount St Helens Native Azalea- $9.95 at Lowes in season!!! This is a $20-$25 plant anywhere else...

Arborvite- 5 foot plants $10 at Walmart the end of June...

So, my fellow gardeners, the deals are out there so don't be afraid of the box stores... Just be sure to replant those plants quickly and water them alot for the first year 'cause alot of them are grown in too much bark mulch...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:13 PM

Last fall at Home Depot I bought two 1 gallon containers with several Swiss Chard each, I think they totalled $8. The contents were well over 12" tall, so were well established, and were much better looking than the bedding plants that my local nursery has ever offered. This delightful vegetable was being sold as "winter color" so they had some red, yellow, white, and green stems all in each pot. I put the contents of each pot in a different area of the yard; the chard out front is a little happier now but for most of the winter the bed near the kitchen door was doing best. I teased them apart and planted each color several inches from the next. They're so beautiful to cook with!

I've been eating chard all winter, putting it in soup, in quesadillas (shredded and steamed first and added to meat and or cheese). Tonight I ate it like spinach, steamed and served with some vinegar.

These plants will keep producing for at least two or three years, if treated right. And they will taste great. This is the kind of home growing and cooking that appeals to me!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:56 AM

It depends on what you're growing from seed. Each little lettuce they start for you adds up, but if you're buying something like a tomato or eggplant, you get a lot more fruit for the cost of the starter plant, that was my point.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: pdq
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:18 AM

In warmer areas of the US, the South through California, mid February is the last chance to prune fruit trees.

Immediatly after pruning, use a dormant spray that such as Kocide (copper-based) to stop peach leaf curl and other bacterial and fungal diseases.

Volk oil is also called a dormant spray, but it is used to kill (by suffocation) the eggs of aphids, scale insects and mites. It is organic, as far as environmental terms. It does not have any affect on peach leaf curl or other microbial dieseses

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:17 AM

Dear Janie,

Try this site : www.nsalg.org.uk.

NSALG is the (UK) National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd.

Regards, Bryn

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:01 AM

Yes, the gardening book said "as soon as the soil can be worked" so I figured what the heck. Last year I put in the lettuce in mid March and it did fine. This year I'm keeping a record of what I plant and when, and I'll note down when and if it germinates, etc. I will probably buy the small tomato, squash and pepper plants and put them in around May 1st. That's what I did last year and it worked out. I don't really want to get into starting the seeds indoors and the plants aren't expensive in the nursery.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:24 AM

Mary, I went ahead and seeded my pots with lettuce, kale, spinach and mesclun mix this weekend, (and onion sets in a long planter for green onions,) and know I am pushing the envelop a bit. But like you said, seeds are cheap, and there are more of them in the envelops!

I've never tried veggie container gardening before.    There is only me to feed, and every other week my son, so I don't need to produce much from a salad garden. I'll be curious to see how it goes.

Mid-February is when I usually have usually seeded most of what I seeded in pots this weekend, but it was always in a cold-frame or tunnels. Maybe I should cover the pots with seran wrap?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:21 AM

I usually buy the coastal hay in woven bags stuffed full. I paid for two today, but when they brought them out I sent one back, then got a refund. It wasn't full, it was puny, and they didn't have any others back there. I'll probably clear room in the garage for a bale and simply buy the larger, cheaper version next time. Heck, I've been taking the bags in every so often and just giving them back, but today he said how much they cost each ($1.09) and I could have gotten a couple of bales of hay for those bags. No more Ms nice guy! We'll trade! :)

I use coastal hay in the dogs' houses and enclosure in the garage. Every couple of months I clear it all out, sweep the area, then refill their houses with hay. And the hay that they trampled down goes into the garden as mulch. It may not last as long out there after the dogs have trampled and slept on it, but that's okay. I enjoy getting a couple of distinct uses out of it. And the dogs are soooo funny--when I put the new hay in their houses they just love to get in and curl up and roll around in it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 09:16 PM

Yer in Texas, SRS, so you're way ahead of us folks back east... Actually, onion sets can go in here real soon but that's about it... But I'd cover 'um with a few inches of straw...

BTW, straw is the greatest mulch for the veggie garden... Little or no weeds and keeps the rain water where it belongs: In the soil... But if yer gonna mulch with it mulch at least 4 inches and better at 6 inches...

Man, gotta get some chicken litter (manuer) quick...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 08:11 PM

I finished turning over the garden beside the back door, and hauled out the soaker hose I'll run through it. I plan to do some more contouring of the bed this year, and not plant things so close together. It made it too hard to move around and pick stuff. I have the luxury of enough space, other places to put beds (not like Bobert, but then, I don't know anyone else who gardens on the scale that Bobert does!)

Onion sets and some seeds go in this week. Beans, herbs, etc.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 07:06 PM

Yeah...

There isn't quite enough heat in the ground fir those cold plants to get going but, hey, the seeds are cheap...

About April 1st for those...

But get an almanac for excat dates for planting becuase lunar cycles have alot to do with the the success of crops... BTW, theres a great nursey in Mechanicsville... It's called Sandy's and is on, ahhhh, Sandy's Lane... Not to far off 64...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 06:04 PM

Yes, Mechanicsville - a little east of Richmond. Do you think I should have waited a few weeks?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 05:48 PM

Where do you live, Maryrrf??? Isn't it Richmond???

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 05:33 PM

I have a garden patch that's 28 x 16. Yesterday I dug it all out and culitivated it, breaking up the dirt and getting it ready. Today I planted a row of English peas and assorted lettuce. It might be too early but the packets of seeds were only a few dollars - we'll see!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 02:19 PM

Janie and Dani,

I'll PM you with our itinerary when it finalized... We are meeting other people from our azalaea chapter so I'm probably not going to have much say in anything... Normal...

Sins,

Azaleas are fairly easy to propagate... You want to take new growth in July... All ya' have to do is snip off about 4 inches which, BTW can be accomplished withoout leaving any real evidence... Of course, they won't be in bloom so you have to make yer notes in May and June when they are in bloom as to whos azalea'd you like and ask permission to come back to get cuttings... It doesn't hurt the parent plant one bit...

Okay, don't let that cutting dry out... Put it in a baggie and store in the refrigerator up to a week if you don't have time to plant it immediately... Plant in 4" pots filled with potting soil and a little vermiculite...

How to plant: Take cutting and put them in water for a few minutes, remove the largest leaves on the stem leaving only two or three sets of leaves at the top... Now seperate what you think is the top set of two leaves and you'll find a tiny set of leaves which you pinch out... Cut the stem at an angle, dip it in root tone (with anti-fungicide) and plant it about an inch deep in moist but not wet potting soil... Now take what you have and put the pot with cutting in a baggie and close it and twist tie it...

If you have a room or garage where there is no heat, great... Buy a cheapie florescent light and put the cutting under the light... The light needs to stay on 24 hours a day... If you don't have such a space then leave them next to the north side of yer house in a protected area from deer and wind and varments... They will root in about 6 weeks and when you see new growth you can open the baggies and lightly water... Then in October they can be moved into a 6 inch pots which will need to be over wintered in some place that you can put a small portable heater that keeps them 40 degrees or better... Water every couple weeks as needed... Never over water... In the spring they are ready to go outside...

Most azaleas are hardy and if you get cutting off local azaleais then they will do fine....

From cutting to good sized plant is two to three years... Some of the cuttings will bloom in the pots... That's okay...

Any questions???

B~