In the past couple of months, I’ve been taking things a step further in my gardening and trying my hand at transplanting and cultivating a few plants to see what happens. I haven’t read books on this subject, or gone to a lecture to learn how to do this. I just dove in and this is how things are turning out.

I’ve discovered two different ways of transplanting and cultivating baby plants that work well for me.

The first transplanting method I use is cutting a baby plant or leaf off of a mother plant, and placing it in water for a week or two. You can also just get a regular clipping off of a plant (doesn’t have to be a baby all the time). Once the roots start growing off of the plant, then the cutting can be transplanted into some dirt.

This can also be done to wild plants and flowers that you find outdoors.

In these photos, I’ve made a Wild Primrose cutting take root. Now before you think I’m all awesome for knowing what this wild plant was, hold your breath. The only reason I found out what it was, was because I saw Home Depot selling the same plant that went rampant in my yard for $4. Well my thrifty mind decided to see if I could cultivate this wild thing to grow in some pots.

You can see I’ve been doing the same thing with my golden pothos plant, and using it to cultivate even more of these so that I don’t have to buy more from a store.

Once a plant grows some roots in the water (I let it get a few inches long), then it’s time to transplant into some soil. It can vary from plant to plant, but I usually just make sure the entire root is buried along with some of the stem.

The plant then goes into a sort of shock and it’s important to water once a day for at least a week, and then you can return to the regular watering schedule.

The second method of transplanting I use is to dig up a plant from the roots and transplant it that way. I did that with these other Wild Primrose flowers.

As you can see in the photo, I cut the flowers down quite a bit, and for a while they were just sticks prodding angrily out of the dirt.

I thought nothing was going to happen, and they looked ridiculous sitting on my porch. But now they are finally coming back to life, and I’m just a little giddy waiting for the flowers to venture forth.

This is also the method to use for plants from the store. If you are transplanting a store-bought plant, then make sure and loosen the dirt a little around the roots before planting.

Most plants that you buy at the store will come with directions. Just follow those and you should be good to go. If you buy a plant from a farmer or vendor at a farmer’s market, make sure you ask them about transplanting and caring for it.

It’s important to note that sometimes you will fail, as you can see by the following photo of my poor peas:

It’s a learning process, but one that can be quite rewarding. I’ve found that this is fast becoming one of my favorite hobbies. There’s no end all solution to transplanting, as every plant is different. Just do your best, enjoy and soon you will be growing some beautiful things.

Please note that I am not an expert, so if you see me doing something wrong or have some suggestions for me, I can’t wait to hear them! You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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This post is linked to on Funky Junk Interiors.