Now is the time to take hardwood cuttings from shrubs such as dogwood or cornus, says Gina Parkinson.

DAYS rapidly draw in this month. Any chance there is to get out into the garden needs to be taken immediately, because there is plenty to be getting on with.

November is a good time to take hardwood cuttings from shrubs such as dogwood or cornus.

These attractive plants come from a family which falls into two main groups.

The coloured-bark dogwoods are grown for their colourful stems of yellow, orange, red and black depending on variety, that brighten the winter garden.

The flowering dogwoods are less popular but can grow into tree-like proportions with large flowers in spring and early summer.

Hardwood cuttings are simple to take and require little attention after planting. First remove several stems about the thickness of a pencil from the shrub and trim them to a length of around 30cm just below a leaf joint.

Remove soft growth from the top of the stem with a sloping cut - this will allow rain to run off rather than collect.

Choose a site in the garden to plant the cuttings, making sure it is sheltered and sunny for at least part of the day and with well-drained soil that doesn't get waterlogged.

In an exposed garden, it is worth putting up a temporary windbreak to protect the cuttings from drying winds. Dig a v-shaped trench with a sloping side and a straight side and line it with sharp sand to help with drainage.

Put the cuttings into the trench so they sit on the sand against the vertical wall and are about 15cm apart with two thirds of their length below soil level.

Fill the trench with two thirds of the soil and firm down by foot, then loosely replace the remaining soil. Check the cuttings are held firmly by giving them a gentle pull, then label and leave to root.

During the following spring and summer the cuttings will need to be watered in dry weather and weeded to keep the area clear. A good root system should have developed by next autumn when the new plants will be ready for planting into their permanent position.

National Tree Week

THE Tree Council is holding its 30th National Tree Week from November 24 to December 5. The week celebrates trees and woods and will include more than 2,500 events around the country.

The Tree Council was founded in 1974 to keep up the momentum of the National Planting Year in 1973 with its slogan 'Plant a Tree in '73'.

Now up to a million trees are planted annually as a result and the Tree Council is a leading UK campaigning partnership bringing together 150 organisations to work for trees.

Members include the Woodland Trust which, as a prelude to National Tree Week, is holding family planting events from November 18 - 23 in its Tree For All initiative. This aims to involve more than one million children in planting 12 million trees over the next five years.

This may seem a lot of trees but Britain is still one of the least wooded countries in Europe and has lost more than 25 million trees to Dutch Elm Disease and a further 19 million to storms.

Details of events and planting sites are on the website www.treecouncil.org.uk or phone the Tree Council infoline 020 7940 8180 during office hours. Details of Woodland Trust events can be found on www.treeforall.org.uk

Gardens Through Time

THE new gardening series Gardens through Time on BBC2 reaches part three on Tuesday and sees Diarmuid Gavin building a model of the Matterhorn on which to display the new species of alpine plants available to gardeners in the 1890s.

The series, presented by garden historian Jane Owen and Diarmuid, looks at the development of gardening in Britain over the past 200 years.

They travel around the country to discover examples of garden styles during this time and Diarmuid builds seven gardens showing the ideas and influences on gardeners in this period.

The seven Gardens Through Time can be seen at RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate, where they are part of the celebration of the bicentenary of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Diamuid Gavin will be talking about the series this Monday at the Cairn Hotel in Harrogate at 7pm for 7.30pm. Prices are £16 for non RHS members and £12.50 for members and include a glass of wine. For further details and to book tickets ring 01423 565418.

Gardening TV and radio

Sunday, November 14

6.35am, R4, Living World. Brett Westwood visits the Wrye Forest where his discovers a huge variety of fungi thriving after the wet summer.

9am, Radio Leeds, Weekend In The Garden. With Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

Noon, Radio York, Down To Earth. Presented by William Jenkyns. (Repeated at 5pm).

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. From the potting shed with Bunny Guinness, Pippa Greenwood, Bob Flowerdew and chairman Eric Robson.

Tuesday, November 16

8pm, BBC2, Gardens Through Time. It is the 1890s and Britain is an affluent industrial nation with a large empire. Gardeners want extravagant features such as the copy of the Matterhorn Dairmuid Gavin builds. He also tries out different ways of growing Victorian vegetables. With Jane Owen.

Friday, November 19

7.30pm, BBC2, Hidden Gardens. Chris Beardshaw helps to restore an organic Victorian kitchen garden.

8pm, BBC2, A Year At Kew. The Orchid Festival is held and the tree gang help out at the Botanic Gardens in Gibraltar in the final programme of the series.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners' World. In a review of the past year Monty Don looks at the successes and failures in the Berryfields garden and reveals future plans.

Updated: 16:20 Friday, November 12, 2004