Lavender Cuttings Free Plants From Garden Waste
Updated: 2 days ago
Take Lavender Cuttings, to Plant out Next Year
By The Messy Gardener — half plot in Tonbridge, Kent
Look at that lot — all free. These are lavender cuttings I took after trimming back after flowering. No rooting powder, no heated propagator, just grit, compost and a pot.
If you've got a lavender bush, you've got 10 free plants sat right there. Here's how I do it in Tonbridge on a budget.
Why bother?
Free plants — £4.99 a pot in the garden centre, this lot cost me nothing.
Same as the parent — same colour, same scent, same toughness.
Easy — kids can do it.
Great for edging paths, filling gaps, or swapping on the allotment gate.
When to take them — UK
May to early June: softwood, fast to root, needs a bit of cosseting.
July to September: semi-ripe, my favourite — sturdier, roots reliable. This is what these in the photo are.
Don't bother deep winter unless you've got a cold frame.
How I do it — step by step
1. Take them
Pick healthy shoots that AREN'T flowering, about 7-10cm long. Snip just below a leaf joint. Strip lower leaves, leave a little tuft on top. Keep them in shade in a damp bag if you can't pot straight away — they wilt quick.
2. Pot them up
Free-draining mix is everything. I do 50/50 multipurpose compost and horticultural grit or perlite. Don't use pure compost — sits too wet and they rot. That's how I lost my first batch.
Stick 5-6 cuttings around the edge of a pot like in my photo — they root better round the edge than in the middle. Firm gently, water well and let drain.
No rooting hormone needed. Lavender wants to root.
3. Look after them
Bright, but not scorching sun — greenhouse bench with shading, or windowsill out of direct midday sun.Just moist, never soggy. Wet feet kills lavender faster than frost.4-6 weeks and you can give a gentle tug — if it resists, it's rooted.Pot on individually into gritty compost with a pinch of slow-release feed if you have it.
Plant out next spring once rooted, full sun, well-drained. On our Weald clay in Tonbridge I dig a hole twice as big and chuck half a bucket of grit in the bottom — otherwise it just sits in wet clay all winter.
My tips from doing it wrong
Drainage is everything. More grit than you think.
Label them! I forgot which was Hidcote and which was Munstead last year, now I've no idea.
Hardwood cuttings late Oct/Nov work if you've got a cold frame or sheltered spot behind shed.
Be patient — some take 8 weeks, not 4. Don't bin them too quick.
My lot in the photo are looking silver and healthy — fingers crossed they'll be ready to plant out along the path next spring. I'll update this post when they are.
💷 How Much I Saved — Half Plot Maths
10 x lavender plants at garden centre @ £4.99 = £49.90My cost: pot of compost I had, handful of grit, one old pot = about £2 if that.Saving: About £48 — and better plants because they're Tonbridge tough, not forced in a greenhouse.
Have you done lavender cuttings on your plot? Got a trick that works? Drop it below — we're all still learning.
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