In the garden: Five reasons not to be too tidy 

The leaves are all around us now, and traditionally the lead-up to the end of the year is a time for tidying up in the garden, ‘putting it to bed for the winter’ if you like.

In more recent years, I have attempted to desist from doing too much tidying and left vegetation in place for the winter months. It may be visually less pleasing, but once we understand why, perhaps our perspective changes somewhat.

Here are a few reasons why we should not tidy the garden too much this winter.

• The whole garden is essentially a bug hotel and leaving vegetation, dead stems and leaves in situ over the colder months allows beneficial insects like ladybirds and beetles to overwinter and increase their numbers more quickly once spring arrives. This has the knock-on effect of keeping balance in the garden once it gets growing.
• Leaving the dead foliage of herbaceous plants in situ means much less work and moving of bulky material. By the time spring arrives, much of the plant material will have melted back into the soil, broken down by insects, worms and micro-organisms resident in the soil.
• Leaving some plant material to rot down into the soil increases organic matter and will result in better soil structure and increased humus, all of this is good news for plant growth and the health of the soil.
• Having higher levels of organic matter in the soil increases water-holding capacity of the soil, which will prove invaluable during periods of drought.
• Mulching with autumn leaves can create some protection from frost and cold for the plants lying dormant beneath.

A practical tidy-up

Now, when I say not to tidy the garden too much, we must be practical, as is innate within gardeners. Paths that are used regularly will benefit from being cleared of decaying vegetation as we do not want to create hazardous slippery conditions over the winter months.

A certain amount of clearing will need to be done to keep the garden safe and useable. Also, leaf collection to create leaf mould is a good idea. I read a funny caption on social media during the week, ‘You know if you don’t rake the leaves they turn into soil right? They don’t break into your house and drink all your wine or anything’.

Deciduous leaves left in situ create habitats for insects and microorganisms. They are high in carbon and will benefit from being mixed with a nitrogen source like grass clippings.

This will hasten the breakdown process, so if you do have a sludgy grass heap after the summer, mixing some autumn leaves through it will help to create useable compost for the garden more quickly.

The trouble with letting leaves stay where they fall is that they will kill the grass if they create a thick layer which the light cannot penetrate. They will eventually break down and mulch beds and borders so a good compromise may be to rake them from the grass and let them in situ under shrubs, trees and herbaceous plantings.

They need to be broken down for a few years to be useful for a vegetable plot really, so leaf mould will be best used in this situation.

The smaller the leaf then the quicker it will be to compost. Beech, ash, birch and acer all make for good composting, with larger leaves like chestnut and magnolia taking longer to break down and benefiting from being chopped up before adding to the pile.

Walnut leaves are poisonous and best not composted for use in the garden for this reason.

It does depend on how big your garden is and how many trees are in or around your garden as to the strategy you will take for managing them.

It is quite surprising the conflict that falling leaves can cause between neighbours - with these precious pieces of what will eventually be brown gold cast aside and dumped behind walls and in ditches.

This autumn, the aim should be the ‘considered gathering of leaves’ from areas where they will not be of benefit to a particular area of the garden. Leaves that are gathered can be put into bags with some drainage and stored for a year or two before use in the garden.

Ensure that they are wet going into the bags as moisture will be a limiting factor for their breakdown if dry - generally, this is not an issue in the Irish climate!

Plant of the Week

Leaves break down at different rates, depending upon the size and thickness, and one of the best for creating compost is hornbeam.

Carpinus betulus looks quite like beech leaves but the veins are more defined, they are a similar size and colour.

They eventually grow to a large parkland-sized tree or are often planted as a hedging plant.

This can be a good alternative for beech on damper soil as it will tolerate moist, but not waterlogged soil conditions.

There is also a fastigate cultivar, Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigata’, that has an upright pencil shape when younger, developing into a pyramidal shape as it matures.

This tree is often planted in urban settings as a street tree because of its compact growth habit.

It will grow to a height of about 10 metres, with a spread of 3-6 metres, with a compact growth habit and good spring and autumn foliage colour - a good specimen tree for the garden therefore.

Interestingly, there is a town in northern Italy called Carpi and it is believed that its name is derived from the hornbeam tree, as this area was home to Carpinus forests in ancient times.