Cut back in the garden; Hannah Stephenson shows how you can save money by taking cuttings to restock your garden for the years ahead.

IF you're watching your budget and want to increase your plant stock without spending money, late autumn is the time to take hardwood cuttings from many deciduous shrubs.

Stocks of roses, willows, weigelas, dogwoods and philadelphus can all be increased through hardwood cuttings. Although the cuttings will take a year to root, it's worth the wait as you will produce large specimens ready for planting out or potting up.

Cut woody shoots from the base of this year's growth, making a straight cut below a leaf joint and a sloping cut at the tip above a bud and angled away from it to leave the cuttings 20-30cm long. Dip the base into hormone rooting powder.

Make a slit trench in a well-cultivated, vacant plot by pushing a spade backwards and forwards to create a V shape, with added organic matter.

Push the cuttings in 30cm apart, firming the soil back around them along each side of the row and closing the trench. Water well.

By next summer, the cuttings should have produced sideshoots, and in autumn you'll have tough, bushy plants ready for transplanting to your chosen spot.

Hardy plants can be rooted in a sheltered part of the garden or in a pot of soil-based compost in a garden frame over winter, putting them outside in the spring.

There are many other ways of propagating plants, including dividing clumps of grasses, herbaceous perennials such as hostas and wild geraniums (cranesbill).

The best time to lift and divide is the spring, just as growth is beginning, or late autumn, as the plant's foliage is dying down for the winter. Tough perennials such as Michaelmas daises can be divided in the autumn.

Start and thin Hostas and agapanthus also do well from dividing in late autumn. As hostas have dense, congested roots, lift the plant - root ball and all - and split the clump using a sharp knife.

With old, congested plants, you may need to cut out the old woody centre of the clump, retaining the stronger roots on the outside.

The divided plants can be planted at a depth the same as previously grown, the hole infilled with a soil-based potting compost which will retain more moisture. Firm it to stop air pockets. They can then be watered in well and left to settle.

If you want to increase your houseplant stock, leaf cuttings may be taken between spring and late autumn and are particularly suitable for propagating African violets, Begonia rex and streptocarpus.

With African violets, remove a young leaf with stalk and push the stalk into a pot of seed compost until the leaf rests on the surface. Place the pot in a heated propagator, and within around six weeks a new plant should have formed at the base of the leaf. When it is 2.5cm high, separate it from the old leaves and pot it on in a soil-less compost.

The leaves of begonia rex can also be laid flat on a tray of compost, with the stalk removed. The main veins should be cut using a sharp knife and the underside of the leaf secured to the compost using cocktail sticks. Keep compost moist to create humidity, but don't wet the leaf or it may rot. A young plant should form at each nick.

Soon you will have increased your stock of plants both inside and out, without breaking the bank.

Replant hanging baskets with spring-flowering bulbs, winter heathers, trailing ivies and spring bedding plants.

Start winter pruning on apples and pears to shape trees, thin out congested growth and remove damaged branches.

CAPTION(S):

AUTUMN COLOUR Leaves on a dogwood tree. BRIGHT IDEA Propagating plants such as African violets, left, and geranium (cranesbill) will help you restock you indoor and outdoor spaces.