TAKING SOFTWOOD CUTTINGS

Increase your stock of plants for free by taking summer softwood cuttings now of your favourites including pyracantha, hypericum, potentilla, honeysuckle, ivy, hydrangea, spiraea and rosemary. Cuttings are taken from the current season’s growth by following these simple few steps:

1 Choose the longest non-flowering side shoots you can find, use a sharp knife or secateurs to cut them from the plant.

2 Trim below a single leaf joint or pair of leaves; try to end up with a cutting of 8-10cm long. Remove any leaves from the bottom half of the cutting.

3 Fill a 10cm pot with compost; mixing it with equal parts perlite will make it more aerated to help rooting.

4 If you don’t use rooting compost, as I don’t, just insert the base of the cutting into the compost, you can get three or four in a pot, water, allow to drain and foliage to dry, then cover with a clear polythene bag held in place with a rubber band around the pot. When excess water builds up in bag shake out to prevent it becoming too humid inside.

5 Place in a well-lit position indoors, but out of direct sunlight. Keep compost moist and your cuttings should route in six to eight weeks. When the roots appear at the bottom of the pot, plant on singly in the same-sized pot. These will be ready to plant out next season.

STORING HERBS FOR AROUND USE

If you have abundance of any herbs, store them by freezing for use all year round.

Wash and chop leaves into small pieces, fill into ice cubes with water to cover, pop in freezer then bag and label. This process is best suited for moisture dense herbs like basil, chives, mint and tarragon.

Drying is a good way of storing without depleting the herbs of their oils. This process works best with herbs that don’t have a high moisture content such as bay, dill, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, summer savoury and thyme.

Harvest before flowering, cut in mid-morning so morning dew has dried.

Use only healthy branches; shake stems to make sure no insects are on-board as it is best to avoid washing stems, as wet herbs will mould and rot. Remove lower leaves, bundle 4-6 branches together and tie with a string or rubber band.

Cut or punch holes in a paper bag, place the herb bundle upside down into the bag, close bag, label and hang the bag up, you don’t have to bag them but this also helps keep dust off. Cut and dry your lavender also now, just as flowers are in bloom.