It’s Chelsea week, which means that if you are going to have a bash at the ‘Chelsea Chop’ then now is the time to do it. I shall elaborate.

The idea of hacking back your perennials by a half may seem to go against the grain when you have been waiting for them to grow.

But there is enough evidence to suggest doing just that to some of them will lead to less need for staking, later flowering and many more, but possibly smaller-sized, flowers.

The idea is to remove the apical dominance – the lead shoots – and that way the thing becomes bushier and has more lateral growth and so produces more flowers.

This technique should only be tried on perennials that flower towards the end of June onwards. It should be confined to those that give more than one early rush of flower, so don’t do it on the Iris, Peonia or Aquilegia.

Stuff you can have a go at includes: Anthemis tinctoria, asters, Campanula lactiflora, solidago (Golden Rod), helenium, tall sedums, Phlox paniculata, Echinacea purpurea (Coneflower), rudbeckias.

If you can’t face the thought of slashing the whole lot down by half then just select some of the stems and that way you will prolong the flowering period.

Deadheading is all the go now as well, on things like salvias, which are an absolute boon to the early summer garden. I especially like Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’, which is quite tall, has violet-blue spires with black stems and the bees go mad for it. Just cut back the faded flowerheads and it will keep going right through until September. Salvias are, of course, part of the Sage family and it’s a big one.

If you find yourself getting interested in this large group of plants then get The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Salvias by John Hutton.

I have already mentioned cutting back early flowerers like pulmonarias and brunneras and now I am adding the early hardy geraniums – not the ground-huggers like macorrhizum, leave those alone. No, it’s the phaeum group I’m looking at here.

They have small purple or white flowers often with reflexed petals and they do well in shade. They do, however, tend to become quite leggy and messy so don’t be afraid to cut them right down once they have finished flowering.

Give them a feed, water well and mulch. They won’t flower again but the leaves will reappear as fresh, round foliage.

You can also take some softwood cuttings now. Likely candidates will include hardy fuschias, philadelphus (Mock Orange), hydrangeas, and lavender.

Snip off a few strong, young, non-flowering shoots and take off the lower leaves.

Cut under a node (leaf joint), dip in hormone powder if wished and whack around the sides of 9cm pots filled with a cutting compost – or use ordinary potting compost if you only have that.

Water well, label, and put in a light, warm but not hot place to root. Free plants – what could be better?