Its time to take some softwood cuttings of the aromatic, shrubby herbs that propagate easily by this method – lavender, rosemary, sage are the ones I’m going to take this year. I always lose a few herbs over the winter frosts, and I replenish my stocks both by buying new  plants and also by softwood cuttings (also of the new herbs I buy to maximise spend).

To take softwood cuttings take a soft-stemmed non-flowering twig and pull it away from the parent plant to leave a little heel – a small piece of bark from the parent plant – this tend to take better. You can just clip a small cutting, but leave the stem as long as possible whilst still ensuring the stem is soft, and not woody. Strip the leaves off the bottom part of the stem. You can then just push into the compost/fine earth in a small plant pot – or you can dip it in a hormone rooting compound (but this is not really necessary with these herb cuttings) . Water well and cover with a poly bag to keep the moisture in, and put on a shady windowsill or outside in a sheltered spot (though as frost may still arrive I’m opting for the windowsill). Take off the poly bag to let in air regularly. When you see your cutting growing new leaves then you know the roots have grown. I have often killed my new little plants by planting out too early – my garden is on a hill and quite exposed in winter. I do better if I keep the plants growing until next spring when they can replace any winter casualties.