Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Beginnings of a Plantation

So far the overall thought has been about a possible plantation in the making. Currently I have seeds starting to germinate and no substantial land to speak of, but I have a plan.

As I type this the seeds are soaking up water and germinating. Soon I should have little sprouts to put into 3-5 gallon containers until spring. They need room for the tap root.
When spring comes I will transplant them outside mainly between my and my neighbor's house, but anywhere I can find full sun or nearly full sun. She wanted something planted there anyway and they make really nice bushes. I should be able to get 16-20 bushes there. Spacing for good production seems to be about 3 feet but I might have to end up zig-zaging them to have them fit well.
They should be hardy by the next winter and growing well. It will take a few years before I can make good cuttings from them and by then I will know which bushes I want to take cuttings from for more bushes.
If I don't have more land to plant bushes on then I will talk with my neighbors to see if I can plant them in their yards, those with enough sun and pay them a portion of the profit from the bushes grown on their land.
All leaves will be hand picked that will be used for tea but I will be using a trimmer to keep the bushes in shape. It will probably take only me and my wife to pick leaves at first but there are probably some neighborhood kids that would like to make a quick buck picking. There are some good families in the area.
Still don't know what I'm going to brand it as...

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