The beauty of a garden is that it not only offers a completely different appearance throughout the year, but also many different activities that are fun for the hobby gardener and challenge their creativity. Autumn is certainly one of the most labor-intensive seasons, but it also includes the harvest. From apples and pears, plums and berries to wonderful plants for autumn arrangements, such as grasses and Chinese lanterns, to colorful bouquets of asters, colorful dahlias, and chrysanthemums.
Time to plant
Apart from summer flowers, autumn is the right time for planting. Trees and bushes will be just as grateful for being moved during the wet season as new perennials and hedges are happy to move into their new home.
Hedges throughout the year
Hedges serve a special purpose in the garden. They not only consist of plants that enrich the view with leaves, needles, fruits, and flowers, but they are also a welcome privacy screen at the edge of the property. This way, paths and neighboring gardens can be shielded, or a seating area can be given a "green wall." A distinction is made between evergreen hedges and so-called deciduous ones. The latter includes the privet, one of the best-known and most popular hedge plants of all. Due to its small leaves, it is easy to trim into shape, and the bush itself is quite hardy.
In addition, the privet is quite fast-growing and can therefore soon develop its protective effect against prying eyes.
Ground cover – the gardener's favorites
A favorite in the garden is ground cover. There is a simple reason for this: they are not only beautiful and usually bloom as well, but they also keep annoying weeds down or even prevent their growth entirely. In addition, they ensure that the soil remains moist, which the other plants appreciate. They are usually available in pots and are best planted in autumn. How many to plant per square meter depends on the variety, its growth, and the size of the respective pots. The gardener can usually provide advice on this. Examples of these ground covers are the well-known periwinkle with its magnificent blue-violet flowers, or the so-called Japanese spurge or the wintercreeper. A fast-growing, beautiful representative of this type is ivy, which comes in many varieties. But be careful: it should not grow up walls or buildings, as it has quite destructive powers and can escalate significantly.
Leaves in the garden
Whether deciduous hedges or trees, perennials or other plants: in autumn, the garden is buried under a thick layer of leaves. But that doesn't have to be a nuisance! Of course, the leaves should be collected at the entrance, on the sidewalk, and on the lawn, which is usually done quickly with a rake or a garden broom. But they don't have to go into the organic waste. Depending on the quantity, they can do good service in the garden. Up to 20% of the compost can consist of leaves if it is to provide good fertilizer. And spread on beds, the leaves are a good mulch that decomposes over the winter and then fertilizes in the spring.
In addition, hedgehogs and the like are grateful if piles of leaves are left in the garden, which they can use as winter quarters. In the spring, the rest of the leaves, which only have a fraction of the volume, can go on the compost or, if necessary, be disposed of if there is not enough space otherwise.
Conclusion
There is a lot to do in the garden in autumn; furniture also needs to be made winterproof, perennials are cut back, and leaves must be removed. But the work can be fun when the last rays of sun provide warmth. By no means should every flower and every shrub be cut back, because some of them can look beautiful in winter – refined with frost and rime – for example, the flowers of the hydrangea.
