HEDGING Your Bets

I used to run a nursery and we propagated thousands of plants every year from cuttings. Taken from stock plants in the garden, they were inserted into plug trays that have 60 separate compartments for compost; these are useful are there’s less root disturbance when you take them out. Some were set in a greenhouse on sand beds, through which ran electric cables to provide bottom heat and mist in the air above for moisture. Others adjust outside in a shady place so if you want to grow a hedge, it costs nothing. The box hedges that edge our vegetable garden were all grown from our own cuttings and now give evergreen interest throughout the winter, as well as some protection from the winds.