✂️ How to Take Cuttings from Your Favourite Plants
✂️ How to Take Cuttings from Your Favourite Plants & Grow Them in Sand Beds
Whether you're growing herbs, flowers, or shrubs — taking cuttings is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to multiply your garden favourites. This method is budget-friendly, satisfying, and helps preserve the plants you love most.
🌿 Why Take Cuttings?
Taking a cutting is simply taking a piece of a healthy plant and encouraging it to grow roots to become a brand-new plant. Unlike growing from seed, this creates a clone of the parent plant — meaning you’ll get the same flavour, colour, or fragrance.
🪴 Why Use a Sand Bed?
Sand beds are ideal for root development:
Excellent drainage reduces rot risk
Sand holds just enough moisture without water logging
Ideal for woody herbs, shrubs, and perennials
🧰 What You’ll Need
A sharp pair of secateurs or scissors
A clean sand bed or deep tray filled with sand ( not builders sand as it can contain lime which will affect your cuttings)
Optional: rooting hormone powder
A clear plastic cover or cloche (to maintain humidity)
🌱 Step-by-Step Guide
1. Choose a Healthy Parent Plant
Select a non-flowering, vigorous stem free of pests or disease.
2. Take the Cutting.
Cut just below a leaf node (where the leaf meets the stem), about 10cm long. Remove the lower leaves, leaving just the top pair.
3. Dip in Rooting Hormone (optional)
This encourages faster root growth but isn’t essential for all plants.
4. Insert into the Sand
Push the cuttings into damp sand, about 3–5cm deep. Space them so leaves aren’t touching.
5. Cover and Wait
Cover loosely with a cloche or plastic bag to retain humidity. Keep in bright, indirect light. Water gently when the surface dries.
⏳ What Happens Next?
Most cuttings root in 2–6 weeks depending on the plant.
Tug gently — if there’s resistance, roots have started to form.
Once rooted, pot into compost or directly into beds.
🧪 Great Plants to Try
🌿 Lavender
Best time: Late spring to early summer (May–June)
Take softwood cuttings from new growth before it becomes woody.
🌿 Rosemary
Best time: Late spring through summer (May–August)
Take semi-ripe cuttings when stems are slightly woody but still flexible.
🌿 Mint
Best time: Spring to early summer (April–June)
Mint roots very easily from softwood cuttings, so anytime during its growing season works well.
🌸 Hydrangea
Best time: Mid-summer (June–August)
Take softwood cuttings from fresh growth before it flowers, or semi-ripe cuttings later in summer.
🌸 Salvia
Best time: Late spring to early summer (May–July)
Use softwood or semi-ripe cuttings, depending on the variety and maturity of stems.
🌸 Pelargonium (Geranium)
Best time: Late summer to early autumn (August–September)
Take softwood or semi-ripe cuttings before the first frost, from healthy non-flowering shoots.
📥 Download: Free Cutting Log
We’ve created a printable log so you can track what cuttings you’ve taken, when, and their success rates. Ideal for home gardeners and little ones learning propagation!
🖨️ [Download here – Cutting Log PDF]
