How to... take lavender cuttings

August is the ideal time to take cuttings of lavender from your garden (or from a friend's!), increasing your stock for free...

● Choose non-flowering stems, measuring 6cm to 8cm long, from this year's healthy growth, and cut them off from the parent plant.

● Pop your cuttings into a plastic bag to stop them drying out.

● Fill a small pot with gritty compost, gently firming it down.

● Snip each cutting just below a set of leaves and strip off the bottom 2cm of leaf. Dip each cut edge in hormone-rooting powder.

● Insert cuttings around the edge of your pot and firm back the compost.

● Water well, then cover the whole pot with a clear plastic bag, securing it around the rim with an elastic band.

● Put the pots in a warm, shaded place, keeping the compost moist. After four to eight weeks, when rooting has begun, cut off a corner of the bag for ventilation, removing it completely after a few weeks.

● Pot your cuttings up individually when they are fully rooted, and grow them on into young plants that are ready to be planted out.

Read our celebration of lavender here 

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