NATURE
Humble Habitats With Kate Humble
S
UMMER seems to give way to autumn at the
drop of a hat in Septem- ber, so with west coast midges fading fast, enjoy the rest of the warmish evenings associated with the ‘Indian Summer’ we are promised every year! It can be a glorious time in the garden and I can’t wait to watch the colours become more subdued as the seeds hints of red and brown appear on leaves. Before it gets too chilly, people often want to start clearing up their gardens for winter and tidying up scruffy, tired looking plants and shrubs. If you want to encourage more wildlife, I’d recommend saving yourself a job and adopting a slightly more natural approach. Obviously no one wants their garden to be totally unruly but small measures like leaving seed heads on plants like allowing your plants to die back naturally could provide food and shelter for birds through the winter. There are good and bad times to trim conifers and hedging and if you have managed to wait until now, then thank you!
So often gardeners and local authorities use the summer months as the time to wield their strimmers and shears
and replace the foliage exactly where you found it and revisit the job in a few weeks. It will mainly be pigeons and doves at this stage but they should the month.
and risk destroying an active nest but most garden birds will have raised their young now so its a good time to cut back. disturb any late nesters try
If you’ve been thinking about creating some borders and your garden, now is a great time to do it. It can seem like a big job but they don’t have to be big or creative shapes to be effective. The soil will be right to allow roots to grow well and there is usually enough rain to ensure plants don’t dry out.
Plant native shrubs as time - things like cotoneaster and pyracantha will be great for birds and if you’re lucky, you’ll get one of the latter that already has berries that are ripening up.
Cotoneaster berries are a rich food heading down the west coast Pic: Andy Hay (
rspb-images.com) t29humble1no
The winter thrushes will be passing down the west coast before you know it. Looking ahead, you could also plant some lavender which is throughout summer into autumn, or crocuses and early in spring and provide another round of natural food in your garden.
Until next time (if I’ve survived ‘Volcano Live’!). Kate
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