Paul GarganThe bright oranges and fiery reds of the Halloween bonfires that welcomed in November seem to be reflected in the autumnal colour of the trees. Collecting leaves off your lawn may seem like an unending job, but it is a bounty that should not be wasted. If you have only a small amount, say enough to fill a few wheelbarrows, mix them into your compost heap, and give it a good turnover while you are at it.
If, on the other hand, you are lucky enough to have a large amount, you should make leafmould. Due to their high tannin content, especially horse chestnut and oak, leaves take a long time to breakdown, and would slow down the rate of composting in your heap. To make leafmould, simply stuff black plastic bin liners full with wet leaves, pierce the sacks a few times with a garden fork to make air holes and stack in an out-of-the-way place in the garden. Forget about them for a year. When you do come back to them, the bags will contain crumbly ‘black gold’ which you can use as top dressing for your beds.
Traditionally this was the time of year for a major clean-up of the herbaceous perennial beds.
Nowadays, however, it’s best left until spring. The reason is two-fold. First, as the autumns are now warmer for longer, it is possible to have later flowering perennials. The second and most important reason is that it encourages wildlife into your garden.
Remove anything with soft stems that have melted from the cold or become badly withered. Remove any weeds and keep the beds weed-free. Leave seedheads for birds and hollow stems for insects to overwinter in. Only remove leaves that have covered the crowns of plants, leave the rest for the worms to break down. This adds organic matter to your soil. Worm activity also improves aeration and drainage in the beds.
Don’t stop mowing your lawn. Raise the height you cut by a notch or two and cut every 2-3 weeks on a dry day. If you have a lawn on wet ground, try to keep off it as much as possible to minimise damage.
Bird food
Consider putting a bird feeder/table in your garden. Put out a variety of food, not just peanuts. Try offering slices of apple, mashed potato, porridge oats, sunflower seeds or special fat balls you can buy in pet shops. The wider the variety of food offered, the larger the variety of birds you will attract.
Scatter some food on the ground as not all birds will feed off tables or mesh feeders. Put out small amounts of food often to avoid attracting vermin. If you are thinking of planting trees or shrubs in the future, try to include berry-producing ones like pyracantha, cotoneaster, sorbus and holly.
These will not only look good, but also attract birds into your garden, thereby keeping the garden’s natural balance.