Clearing up

Spindle 'Red Sentinel'

I don't 'put the garden to bed' for the winter, but some clearing up is necessary around this time of year.  Mainly it's autumn leaves, which is a continuous job at the moment.  Yesterday I raked them all off the lawn, but overnight it was particularly chilly and by this morning there was a thick carpet of yellow ash leaves from the two trees at the side of the garden (the big ash at the bottom had already dropped nearly all its leaves), so there's a lot more work to do.  The two leafmould containers are full and there are bags of leaves waiting for the levels to drop so that I can add them too.  Other shrubs have also started to shed leaves since yesterday - the rose by the patio, the dogwood, the spindle (Euonymus europaeus 'Red Sentinel'), even the buddleja.  Only the apple trees are resolutely staying green.  The spindle has had lovely colours this year, and its pink and orange fruit really add to the display, but they won't last much longer I fear.

The weather has continued mostly dry, in that it hasn't rained much, although we've had some fog and low cloud which means damp air if not actually drizzle.  There have also been some lovely autumn days too, with surprisingly warm sunshine and blue skies - but cold out of the sun.  Nights are now starting to turn very chilly, with frost forecast for tonight; all the half-hardies have been taken into the greenhouse and the heater turned on.  I'm starting to look out the bubblewrap to get the greenhouse ready for the winter.

Spiders' webs on the plum tree

The low sun yesterday highlighted the spiders' webs beautifully, especially on the plum tree, which turned out to be festooned like a Christmas tree with webs - it was quite spectacular.  It probably explains why we've had visitations of several goldcrests picking over the trees, clearing up in their own way; a pair were working their way around the purple-leaved prunus by the pond the other day.  A pair of bullfinches also passed through, and there are fieldfares and redwings around, although I haven't seen any actually stopping by the garden.  The sparrowhawk also came by, flashing across the patio just at the height of the fat ball feeder, using the birdbath as cover for its approach (fortunately there were no birds on the feeder at the time); I've bought a taller pole to hang the feeder from, so that birds will have better sight of any danger (it also raises the feeder above the level at which the occasional wandering dog can access it!).  The sparrows are the main users of the fat ball feeder, although all sorts of tits (blue, great, coal and long-tailed) have also been there recently, and the robin and dunnocks pick up what gets dropped.  The front-garden robin has been carefully watching any activity on his patch, including flying into the garage when the door is opened up; I expect there are a lot of spiders in there too.

If spiders are proliferating, butterflies are on the wane.  There was a lone red admiral enjoying the sun on some ivy a week or so ago, and yesterday a male brimstone fluttered by - probably the last butterfly of the year, as it was the first of the year back in the spring.

Still lots of apples

The summer vegetable plants have gone to the compost heap, including the courgettes and tomatoes.  The focus is now on the winter and spring crops: broad beans sown two or three weeks back are nearly all up.  My faith in the old pea seeds has been rewarded; they're germinating nicely in their seed tray in the greenhouse, so there should be some pea shoots before long (if the mould doesn't get them first).  The winter green manure is also coming up, despite the age of the seeds.  Don't dismiss the oldies too readily!