Lesson 5
Layering
Layering is the technique nature uses on its own — a low branch touches the soil, roots, and becomes a new plant. We just nudge it along.
Best subjects: strawberries (they layer themselves via runners), thyme, rosemary, sage, climbers and ramblers, brambles, blackcurrants. Anything with a flexible stem that can touch the ground.
Simple ground layering
- 1Choose a low, flexible stem. Bend it down to a patch of bare soil or a small pot of compost.
- 2Make a small wound (a 2 cm sliver of bark scraped off, or a shallow nick) where the stem touches the soil.
- 3Pin in place with a U-shaped wire (a paperclip works) and cover with 2–3 cm of compost.
- 4Water in. The parent feeds the layer while it roots — no rush.
- 5After 6–12 weeks, gently pull. If it resists, sever from the parent and dig up the new plant.
Strawberry runners are nature's own propagation lesson — peg the daughter plantlets into small pots while still attached to mum.