Save on the expense of buying new plants by propagating what is already in your garden

Although gardening can be costly there are lots of ways to save money and propagating your plants is one of them.

Propagating your plants just means dividing existing plants up or taking cuttings in order to create a new plant identical to the one you took the cutting from.

It’s quick and easy and gives you a whole new plant without actually buying it from a shop.

Although there are lots of different ways to propagate plants I’m going to explain a few simple techniques to get you started.

Mint and basil are some of the easiest plants to propagate from and are ideal if you want some experience before moving on to trickier plants.

You can propagate these plants from late spring through to the first frost.

Simply single out a healthy stem and snip just underneath a pair of leaves.

Place the stem in a clear container with water and sit on a windowsill.

After a week you’ll start to notice roots emerging from the bottom and once they get to a few centimetres long you can plant them out into the garden or grow them inside on a sunny window ledge.

Another great plant to propagate from is Sedums, a type of alpine that is widely available in garden centres.

They have fleshy leaves that come in a range of colours from blue to yellow.

In order to propagate them you just pull of a stem about 4-6” long and plant half of the stem into the soil and keep watered for a few weeks until established.

It really is that easy and saves you buying additional plants.

Although coleus plants are seen as annuals here in the UK as the frost often kills them, you can take cuttings before this happens and overwinter them in a glass of water in the house.

The cuttings should be about 4-5” long so make sure to change the water regularly to prevent stagnation.

After the frost has passed the following year you can replant the coleus back into the garden.

This process can be repeated each year and is a much more cost effective way of growing the plant.

I hope you have found this week’s article helpful. If you have any gardening questions you want answered you can email me: jordan1trainer1@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.