Stretch your Gardening Budget by taking cuttings

The spring months are a great time to take softwood cuttings of daisy, rosemary, lavender, chrysanthemum, fuchsias, pelargonium, delphiniums and impatiens.

Here is your guide to creating new plants for your garden, without spending a cent :

• Cut off healthy shoots, measuring about 10cm long, from any of the abovementioned plants.
• Pinch off any flowers or buds and remove the lower leaves from each shoot.
• Use a sharp knife to cut the base of the stem just below the lowest leaf joint (or growth point).
• Dip the cutting in some water, shake off the excess and then dip it in hormone rooting powder (available at all our Garden Centres). Shake off the excess powder
• Stick the cuttings in a pot filled with good quality potting soil, spacing them so that they do not touch each other.
• Place the pot in a warm, bright area (but not in direct sunlight).
• Pinch out the growing tips to encourage the development of bushy plants and start feeding with a foliar feed like Kelpak.
• Once the plants are well established they can be transplanted into garden beds. Water the plants well before and after planting.