Can anyone please help me with some advice on what to do now for next year

[Gardeningtipsneeded]

This is the first year I’ve taken a strategic approach the gardening after many years of flinging plants in feb borders then watching them die. The garden has looked amazing and now I want to be organised a bit for next year.

I’ve taken some pelargonium cuttings
I have a geum I want to propagate for next year, can I take seeds? Is now a good time?
Ditto a scabious
I want to to take some salvia cuttings but I can’t find any side shoots without flowers? Have I just left it too late?
I’m also taking verbena cuttings
Are there any seeds I can sow now for spring/summer? (Easy to grow)
I’m not bothering with bulbs as it was just a ballache last year trying to stop squirrels eating them

Thanks!

Do you have a greenhouse/indoor space for seedlings? If so you can start some sweetpeas off to plant outside in March/April.

I have one of those little plastic covered greenhouses?
My sweet peas did terribly this year when I planted them out. I probably won’t bother with them again but thank you.

Plant pots with tulips/daffodils/alliums?

You sound disheartened op.

I took salvia cuttings, some had flowers on them and they still grew roots. I just popped them round the edge in a pot of gritty compost, kept them in good light, away from sunlight.

Squirrels won’t eat daffodils, muscari, hyacinths, or alliums.

Bulbs in pots with grit on and mesh over. Bareroot shrubs, hardwood and rose cuttings, sweet peas.

Check out talkingofplants on instagram, loads of fab tips on there for gardening inspiration :)

California poppies can be sown now (they are best sown direct where they are to flower, as they don't like having their roots disturbed). Sow some now and keep some seeds for sowing in April/May, and you should have flowers from spring to autumn. Very easy to grow in a sunny spot.

@Autumnscene

You sound disheartened op.

I took salvia cuttings, some had flowers on them and they still grew roots. I just popped them round the edge in a pot of gritty compost, kept them in good light, away from sunlight.

Squirrels won’t eat daffodils, muscari, hyacinths, or alliums.

They might not eat them but they will happily dig them up the little bastards. I put wire racks from old greenhouses over my pots, weighed down with bricks.

Sow hardy annuals like marigolds, plant garlic and autumn sowing broad beans. Take rose cuttings and prepare your soil for winter with a thick layer of mulch.

Sweet peas need lots of food, water and sun so if you didn't have those conditions it would explain why they were disappointing, but if you have a sunny spot you could sow some more and spread manure to feed the soil ready to plant them out in spring (it was also a very cold dry spring last year and could well be better next year)

Put supports in for climbers

Make/buy supports for anything that needs it so that they’re ready to go

Clear any ivy/anything invasive that is now accessible (eg behind died back perennials or deciduous shrubs)

Mulch

I think with geums you divide the roots to propagate - there are videos on YouTube. I’m not sure if it’s too late now, but when I knew I was moving house, I dug up a geum in Feb and bunged it in a pot, where it flowered merrily until I planted it out again in September - and it came up lovely the following year too. I divided it into 3 last month and all of them seem to be doing well.

Go through some on line seed catalogues and make a list of easy grown seeds to direct sow next spring, such as Candytuft, Nigella, and Calendula.
Wallflowers can be planted now for spring flowering.

Geum - needs splitting, if it's grown well you should see it's got more than one 'crown' on it. Can split now or in the spring. You can grow from seed but I'm not sure I'd bother or that it would come true.

Depends on the type of scabious - some are annuals, some perennials. Perennials you can split but I think that's better to do in spring.

You can sow lots of seed now, biennials and hardy annuals. Check out the Sarah Raven catalogue for inspiration.

Now's a good time to mulch the garden too, if you have any of your own compost or can get some decent soil improver. Just spread it on top nice and thick.