So like they do every year, the clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in. Even though I know it’s coming, it always seems to be a shock, so it is comforting to settle into seasonal routines that anchor us to the ebb and flow of our wonderful temperate climate.
Whilst we enjoy the flamboyant show of autumn, we can be out in our gardens prepping for the next stage of the gardening year. Here are a few tips, reminders and perfect excuses to get out into your garden.
A healthy garden has a varied ecology and we should be encouraging all manner of wildlife into our plots, whether big or small. We have just stocked up on fat balls and peanuts for our feathered colleagues in the garden. They will appreciate sustenance to get them through the winter.
When assessing what needs cutting back in your garden, avoid the temptation of being a ‘neat freak’. Cut out and remove any diseased leaves, plants or stems but don’t be over zealous! Leave some patches as they are and this will be an important overwintering site for many useful bugs and creepy crawlies. For example, lady birds over the winter hollow in stems of plants, they will appear in the spring and be hungry! They will take care of the aphids munching on your favourite roses or other pride and joy, so you don’t have to. Think of yourself as being part of the team enjoying and working in the garden, rather than trying to control everything.
Getting the next generation to care for our flora and fauna is always to be encouraged. Building bug hotels and log piles is a great way to explore the variety of shapes, textures and smells found in nature. It doesn’t have to be fancy or indeed pricey, the bugs won’t mind and you are likely to have useful material lying around. You can use old garden canes, leaves, straw and hay, twigs and sticks, even an old upturned flower pot in a sheltered space may provide a shelter for a queen bee who will then go on to build a new colony.
On those colder, wetter days you might want to resist the urge of slumping in front of the TV by carrying out some maintenance on your tools. It really is a much easier task to prune or dig over ground with a sharpened pair of secateurs or spade. Give everything a clean and rub some linseed oil over wooden parts of tools and your tools will last for many years to come.
We carry out an ‘autumn clean’ of the botanical glass house here at the Walled Gardens of Cannington. In spring there is too much going on, in fact we affectionately call it silly season, so we carry out jobs now in order to free up our time in the spring. So wash down and disinfect windows, not only will your greenhouse look better and more loved, you will increase the light levels reaching anything evergreen that you are over wintering.
On brighter days you may want to venture out and carry out some work on your compost heap, making use of the compost you have made or turning it to make room for this year’s debris and ensuring that everything decomposes evenly. If you do these jobs now you are less likely to disturb overwintering insects and mammals and you and the eco-system that you are nurturing will be ready for the riot of colour and activity that will surely come in the spring.
