All year round

Herbs, shrubs and subshrubby plants continue to offer stem cutting material throughout the year. New growth provides softwood items most of which will root in a glass of water standing on the kitchen windowsill, but better still in a propagating facility.

By late summer there are semi-hardwood stems which root in an enclosed frame of gritty sand-compost.

Then in October – November supplies of hardwood material from shrubs and fruit bushes are bounteous.

We collect 30-centimetre lengths of mature current season stems, prepare a slit trench with the spade upright and push them into it, leaving the top third above ground level.

Winter heathers have just had a light trim with the hedge shears and in a month or so will be offering new growth fit for propagation. The short stem cuttings, taken with a heel attached, are planted into a tray of damp sand that will stand in a makeshift cold frame outdoors.

Keep a sharp lookout for propagating opportunities that appear in the garden and are least demanding of time or special facilities. Typical of this is the strawberry bed in which fruits are already swelling. Soon the parent plants will send out runners with perfectly formed young at the tip. Plunge a small pot of soil beneath them and secure each in place. The tip of a thornless bramble (‘Loch Ness’) nearby is touching the soil below. All it needs is a weighty object to pin it down and roots will appear.

The dividing up of herbaceous perennials is the last word in gaining new plants instantly. During the dormant season, from October to March, vigorous sections on the periphery of established clumps can be removed with a spade and replanted in a pre-determined spot immediately.