Rake it in

Gather up autumn leaves and reap the benefits: healthier lawns and a wonderful homemade soil conditioner. Mary Lovell-Smith reports.

LEAVES

• With autumn upon us, it is time to gather leaves because left in bulk they can kill lawns, clog ponds and make paths slippery. Gathered, however, they can be made into leaf mould (an excellent component in seed and potting mix with) or added to composts.

• Make a mould bin by inserting four stakes in the ground to create a metre by metre square and wrap chicken wire around it, and fill with leaves. You can also store the leaves in black plastic bags with plenty of holes poked through, or in purposemade loose hessian sacks if you have them. Stash bags of leaves under bushes or somewhere out of the way for about two years till a dark, crumbly soil has been formed.

Vigorously raking leaves off lawns has a double benefit – it stops them damaging the grasses and removes some of the thatch which builds up on lawns, to their detriment.

LIME

• Lime is best applied in autumn or winter firstly, to give it time to dissolve before spring planting, and secondly to avoid it coinciding with the application of nitrogen-rich fertilisers, which is usually a spring and summer task.

• Many essential minerals, including phosphorus and magnesium, are not readily available to plants in acidic soils. To make them more alkaline, lime is added – and presto, better flowering and fruiting results.

• Lime lovers include fruit trees; vegetables, such as broadbeans, peas, spinach, onions, garlic and brassicas; and ornamentals such as campanula, clematis, delphinium, lilac (which especially loves it) and salvia. Lime haters (aka acid-lovers) include azaleas, camellia, daphne, Japanese maples, pieris and rhododendrons; and blueberries, capsicums, potatoes and tomatoes.

ORNAMENTALS

Plant perennials.

Traditionally it’s time to cut back perennials. Some gardeners, however, prefer to let the plant die back naturally, letting it gather as many nutrients from the soil for as long as possible. As well, some perennials have attractive seedheads, which if left, lend a stark beauty to the winter garden.Ditto, ornamental grasses.

• Lay compost over the flower beds (going lightly over crowns of perennials, then tuck it all in with a thick layer of peastraw which will start to break down over winter giving much needed organic matter to the soil.

Weed seeds are continuing to germinate. These are easily removable when small with a quick hoe or even by rubbing a gloved hand over the soil. This method is particularly good around the base of plants such as roses and perennials, which a wayward hoe movement could easily damage.