Rhs How to Grow Plants for Free: The Practical Guide to Propagating Plants from Cuttings, Division, Gathering Seeds and More!

The perfect introduction to increasing the number of plants in your garden or community easily and cheaply

Increase your stock of plants easily and for free by propagating them yourself. RHS How to Grow Plants for Free demystifies the art of taking cuttings and explains the other ways you can multiply your garden plants. Propagating your own plants is fun, inexpensive, and a sustainable way to garden.

An introductory section explains the botanical science behind all types of propagation and defines and simplifies the language. The book is then split into self-contained practical chapters detailing each of the different types of propagation. Each chapter includes a selection of ’plant profiles’ for the plants best suited to each propagation method:

- Dividing Plants covers the easiest methods of splitting one plant into several new ones
- Saving Seeds introduces how to collect and process seeds from flowers, vegetables, herbs and trees
- Cuttings covers how to successfully grow a new plant from an existing one using several different methods for taking cuttings
- The Houseplants chapter shows techniques needed to increase your collection.
- The final chapters show how to grow new plants from kitchen scraps, and gives ideas on how to make the most of all the new plants you’ve created by giving them as gifts

Simon Akeroyd has written over 30 gardening books, including RHS Gardener’s Quiz & Puzzle Book and the bestselling RHS Allotment Handbook & Planner (both published by Mitchell Beazley). Simon’s most recent book is RHS 50 Ways to Outsmart a Squirrel & Other Garden Pests. He writes for national garden and lifestyle magazines and as producer and journalist for the BBC.

Simon was previously Gardens’ Manager for the National Trust (with properties that include Agatha Christie’s Greenway, Coleton Fishacre, Compton Castle, Bradley Manor and Polesden Lacey). He was also Garden Manager for the Royal Horticultural Society including Harlow Carr and RHS Garden Wisley. Apart from gardening he is also a keen beekeeper.