If you want to increase your stock of a shrub or perennial you particularly like, now is the time to take softwood cuttings. At the start of the season there is new growth and this is what you use. The aim is to balance the amount of leaf above the compost with the rooting points in the compost, in this case 2:2. This is what you do…

1. TAKING THE CUTTING - Select a plant with plenty of new growth - here we have a Salvia. Cut off the stem below the 3rd pair of leaves - this is your cutting. (Tidy the remaining stem on the plant by trimming it to just above the next set of leaves below):

2. PREPARING THE CUTTING - Pinch out the top 2 leaves of your cutting, then remove the 2 leaves on either side of the stem at the bottom of the cutting. You will be left with the 2 middle leaves and the stubs of the two bottom leaves. Roots will grow from where you have removed the bottom leaves.

3. PLANTING THE CUTTING - Without delay, take a pot of damp, firmed compost and using a stick, poke holes around the sides of the pot. Then place the cuttings into the holes against the side of the pot and firm down the compost around them: