Take summer cuttings

The time has come to take cuttings from any tender plants which have spent the winter sitting on a windowsill or in a greenhouse. If rooted soon, each will become a sizeable young plant ready for moving outdoors later.

Varieties such as pelargoniums, fuchsias, penstemons and heliotropes should already be growing young shoots. each is a potential future plant and, though small, will root quickly and reach the ideal planting size by mid-May.

Always select the healthiest shoots. Cutting sizes depends on the species, but each should carry a non-flowering terminal bud and at least a couple of leaves. Cut shoots away from the parent plant and remove lower leaves. Don’t let your cuttings wilt.

For rapid rooting, use a 5050 mix of general purpose potting compost and vermiculite or Perlite. both additives help to conserve moisture while preventing saturation of the compost.

Stick groups of cuttings into 7 cm pots or half trays, and keep close together as long as the leaves don’t touch.

Place pots in a heated propagator or keep them somewhere warm, moist and in full light. A simple, heated waters-ill propagator costs less than £30. larger greenhouse propagators are more, but will produce excellent plants from seed or cuttings in half the time.