July - Propagation

There's lots of opportunities to take softwood and semi-ripe cuttings from shrubs now. Propagation is one of the joys of gardening! You need to take non-flowering shoots to produce cuttings about 8-10 cm long. Sterilise your secateurs or knife with then cut just below a node, reduce the number of leaves to 2-4 and cut those remaining in half. A 1 litre pot with a potting media mix of 50-50 peat-free compost and perlite is ideal for 5 cuttings with a polythene bag over the top to maintain humidity. Keep in sheltered spot out of direct sunshine. Hopefully in 6-8 weeks they may be ready for potting off.