Autumn is a very loved season for me, but it also reminds me that winter will follow. As I look around the gardens we tend, and of course my own, I curb my desire to cut back spent flowering of perennials so that something is there to feed the small birds that do not migrate to warmer climes.
Tits, robins, starlings, sparrows, wagtails and finches have a hard time in freezing weather conditions and need to eat lots of rich, high-fat food to keep their bodies warm. They rely on our gardens for their winter larder, so I leave echinacea and rudbeckia seed heads for them as well as, holly, ivy, pyracantha and sorbus berries.
I always rake my lawn of autumn leaf fall as it’s detrimental to the grass not to, but instead of clearing them into the compost bin, I sequester them onto the plant borders. This allows frogs, newts and if I’m lucky a hedgehog or two to overwinter.
Leaving the gardens like this also protects the crowns of perennials from ground frost and freezing weather. Win win!
Preparing for winter
Autumn is a very loved season for me, but it also reminds me that winter will follow. As I look around the gardens we tend, and of course my own, I curb my desire to cut back spent flowering of perennials so that something is there to feed the small birds that do not migrate to warmer climes.
Tits, robins, starlings, sparrows, wagtails and finches have a hard time in freezing weather conditions and need to eat lots of rich, high-fat food to keep their bodies warm. They rely on our gardens for their winter larder, so I leave echinacea and rudbeckia seed heads for them as well as, holly, ivy, pyracantha and sorbus berries.
I always rake my lawn of autumn leaf fall as it’s detrimental to the grass not to, but instead of clearing them into the compost bin, I sequester them onto the plant borders. This allows frogs, newts and if I’m lucky a hedgehog or two to overwinter.
Leaving the gardens like this also protects the crowns of perennials from ground frost and freezing weather. Win win!