Every year I plan the spring garden in March, which is precisely the wrong month to plan it and the most expensive. By then the nurseries have the plants I want in small pots at full price, and the garden itself has nothing to offer. November is the opposite: everything is dying back, nothing looks promising, and the whole plot is quietly handing out next year's plants for nothing.
You do not need a big garden for this. A balcony with four pots and a windowsill will do. What you need is to get out there in the next few weekends, before the soil turns cold and claggy and you lose your nerve.
Divide the clumps that have outgrown themselves
Herbaceous perennials — the ones that vanish in winter and come back from the base — multiply themselves whether you want them to or not. Hostas, day lilies, hardy geraniums, heucheras, asters, rudbeckia, ornamental grasses and most mints are all candidates. If the middle of the clump has gone woody or bare and the growth is all round the edge, the plant is actively asking to be split.
Lift the whole clump with a fork, shake off enough soil to see what you have, and pull or cut it into sections with a few shoots and a decent handful of roots each. Two hands and a bit of force will do for most; the tough, fibrous ones respond to two forks back to back or an old bread knife. Replant immediately at the same depth, water in even if the ground looks damp, and mulch. One clump routinely becomes three or four plants, which is how you fill a border without buying anything.
