What to do in the herb garden now

•Take cuttings of many herbs, including the sage and thyme you
are cutting back after flowering. Use non-flowering shoots for propagating.

•Thin dill seedlings to 10in apart. I cut the flower heads to
use in vases but leave a few to set seed.

•To prolong the life of parsley, cut off the flowers in their
second year. I leave a few heads for seed.

• Layer low-growing branches of mature sage and rosemary to
produce new plants.

• Cut back the shoot tips of young sage plants (i.e. in their
first year) to encourage bushier growth.

• Cut lemon verbena and fruit-flavoured sages, like
blackcurrant, pineapple and tangerine, to use their leaves for summery
recipes.

• Take stem cuttings from two-year-old lavenders.

• Cut off most of the flower heads of lovage as they appear,
leaving just one or two to seed. I grow an 8ft run of lovage on the south
side of my greenhouse, which provides useful shade. When the leaves start to
yellow, I cut them right down to encourage new, green shoots.

Judith Hann is president of The Herb Society and runs courses on growing and
cooking with herbs (hannsherbs.co.uk
and herbsociety.org.uk)