Organic gardening tips for autumn and winter

☔ As it becomes cold and wet, it's too tempting to neglet your garden and stay in your warm house instead with thick socks on.

At this time of year, there is still much work to be done to protect your soil and plants.

If you act now, it can save you a lot of pain later on and ensure your garden flourishes beautifuly in the spring.

Utilise fallen leaves

🍂 Fallen leaves are often overlooked and seen as a waste product or, worse still, a nuisance. In fact they are gold dust to gardeners.

You can use them to lock in moisture and warmth in your soild, to smother weeds and you can dig them in to your soil to add vital nutrients. Use them as a mulch on your garden borders.

I'm lucky enough to have an oak tree at the back of my garden. I collect the leaves and store them in black bin liners (with holes in the base). You can also collect them in chicken-wire cages. Whatever is easier for you.

Tidy up, but not too much

🧹 It's important to tidy up autumn debrish to discourage overwintering pests - but garden nooks and crannies also provide winter protection and homes for beneficial creatures including hedgehogs, toads, and insects.

I like leave some seedheads, tufty grasses and old leaves in situ to provide shelter for wildlife. We need to look after our wildlife. Imagine you go to supermarket, it's open but there's nothing left to buy. Not cool, right? (We've been there during Covid times,

😮 remember?). It's same for wildlife. Leave something out for them during this time. Not evertything needs to be super neat and tidy.

After all, many of these creatures will repay you by helping to clear up the less benefical pests next year.

Stake and trim your plants

✂️ Now it's a good time to stake and trim your plants. Stakes or tall poles should be driven well into the ground as plant supports.

Don't stake just large plants, stake the small ones too, instead of waiting until they are too big and difficulty to handle.

Please make sure your climbing plants are securely tied to trellises to reduce wind damage over winter and that you trim any overhanging branches over your green house, polytunnel or publich highway to avoid any possible accidents.

Go fruity

🍎 Autumn and winter are great times to plant bare-root fruit trees and bushes.

🎁 Fruit tree as Xmas present, anyone?

Bare-root trees are a more sustainable way of adding to your garden as they don't come in plastic pots, and are ofthen cheaper and quicker to establish too.

When planting fruit trees always clear a squaree metre of weeds and grass from around the trees as it can reduce cropping and may even kill young trees.

🎅 Xmas came early for me! I really wanted Cornelian cherry for Xmas present but I was too impatient and planted 2 of them already in my garden.

❤️ I hope they will both thrive here.

Last chance to plant those spring bulbs

🌷 If you want to have a beautiful splash of colour in your garden in late winter and early spring, plant your bulbs as soon as possible. This autumn is extremely mild and mother nature is very confused. I have Cowslips blooming in my garden this time of year. I hope to see my Cowslips again in spring time.



Once your bulbs are planted, you can look forward to riotous display with snowdrops in February, corcuses and daffodil in March, tulips and daffodils in April and alliums and tulips in May. Well, depending on weather we might see some of them this autumn too.

I hope it inspires you.🥰 Happy gardening! 🍂❄️👢👢

From my heart ❤️ to your heart.❤️