LAVENDER FIELDS

Grow your own lavender field (or border) just from one plant

Lavender is one of our favourites when it comes to plants for the garden. My front garden is filled with it and I love the smell that comes from it just after it's rained. What's better is that every single one was a cutting from plants from my old garden. So they cost me absolutely nothing.

It's so easy to grow lavender from cuttings from spring through to early autumn and I'm going to show you how.

STEP BY STEP

1. First put some compost in a pot and make sure it is really wet. Sit it in some water for a bit to make sure it is soaked.

2. Then take cuttings using a clean pair of scissors or secateurs. The cuttings should be 10cm in size.

3. Next just pinch out the tops. This will stop the cutting growing more leaves and make it concentrate on growing roots.

4. Then dip the cutting in rooting powder and put it in the pot around the edges and that's that bit done.

5. If the weather is hot and dry it's best to do this later on in the day to stop the cuttings drying out.

6. Place in a warm spot to encourage root growth.

7. If the weather continues to be dry, I usually sit the pot in a dish of very shallow water to stop the soil drying out.

8. Keep the soil moist and spray the cuttings every now and then (I don't do this everyday but if you notice them drying out then spray everyday).

9. When you start to see new growth this usually means you have roots, so take a look and pot on if you have roots.

CARE TIPS FOR YOUR NEW PLANT

When the plant has a good root system, plant it out in your garden. It's best to do this in Spring. Lavender loves sandy soil so add some sand or grit if your soil is heavy.

Once your plant is growing away in your garden, keep on with the pruning by cutting it into a dome shape once the flowers die back. I use hedge shears on mine and basically treat it like I do the topiary balls in order to keep that dome shape I love.

Keep it well watered in the first year but after that it should be fine - unless it's really dry weather, then give it a water.