With a pair of secateurs and some compost, you can quickly and easily replenish your garden for free
W
hen we moved into our home, there was a rosemary plant in the bed by the back door. It hadn’t been pruned for some time, so was all legs with a short, dark green hairdo, and after our first winter it promptly died. Fast-forward to around this time last year, when I was searching for my dog after she’d run off into the woods. As I was stomping around, yelling her name, I chanced upon a luscious, hefty rosemary bush. I carry secateurs on dog walks to clear the paths of wandering brambles, so I snipped off a few sprigs and tucked them in my pocket.
The cuttings I took would be described as semi-hardwood or semi-ripe – woodier at the base, with fresh growth at the top – which are ideal for starting new plants. Now is the time to do this with rosemary as well as sage, lavender, thyme and a host of ornamental shrubs and plants.
It is key to either get your cuttings prepared immediately or to pop them into a bag to be kept in the shade (or even the fridge if it’s very hot) to prevent them from wilting and becoming damaged before you have a chance to deal with them. Your cutting ought to be about 15cm long after it’s been trimmed to just below a leaf node (using a clean, sharp knife), then stripped of all but its uppermost leaves.
