Leaves, Leaves everywhere

It is the season of the leaf for most garden owners now. You go out in to the garden on Saturday morning and rake up all the leaves and look back at a job well done. Ten minutes later you look out the window and there all back...The best advice I can give you is to change your thinking process about this job, instead of simply tidying the garden, you are feeding the compost heap to create a better healthier garden over the years to come. There are many methods and processes that can be done to make a nice compost, its best to do an online search to see what method will suit your needs.

As the wind generally picks up over November its best to take a look at any plants that have stakes and make sure they are secure. Roses will also need to be looked over to make sure there is not too much wind rock. If you are pruning your roses over December it would be best to temporarily tie down the new growth now so it doesn't snap out in the wind, where the younger growth is yet to become woody it is easily broken if it is flexed too much in high winds.

Now is a good time to put out the bird feeders to help the birds. Get a good bird seed mix and place your feeders somewhere you can still see it from the house. This way you can see what birds are visiting your garden. Birds can be a great source of pest control keeping all manner of pests at bay.

As the weather is now changing and getting colder its best to protect your tender plants. A general rule I find myself, is once the temperature has dropped below 5°C more then twice its time to make sure everything that needs protection is ready. We use a variety of methods here consisting of greenhouse, cold frames, fleece, cloches, heavy mulch (over Dahlias). We have some banana trees we leave out all winter, these have the leaves cut off and laid at the base to channel water away whilst the stem is wrapped in bubble wrap and covered in hessian, simply because bubble wrap in unsightly in the garden.

For making your own Christmas wreaths this year keep an eye on your holly berries and rose hips, these combined with some nice red autumnal leaves can create a vary attractive wreath. Once you find your material you can store them somewhere cool and dry, apart from holly branches I would leave in a bucket of water which will keep the shine on the leaves longer.