Ledbury Focus November 2019 Ledbury Focus November 2019 v3 | Page 13

November
article & photos by Geraldine Woods-Humphrey
N
ovember 1st, All Saints, and
according to old weather
lore, “On 1st November if weather
is clear, Tis the end of the
sowing you’ll do for the year.”
In other words, rain or frost its
downhill all the way until next
spring. So says an old book on
weather lore I came across a
couple of weeks ago.
Just before the rains began in
September I had to dig a hole, a
deep hole. Digging holes in my
garden isn’t easy. The clay is
unforgiving, Malvern granite
spade breaking; when it’s rock
hard it’s a task for a pick axe.
Down to a depth of 3ft and the
soil was still bone dry, concrete
hard. It’s going to take a lot of
rain to soak that soil 3ft down so
I’m hoping for a wet winter,
though I fear it will be cold and
dry again, with easterly/north-
easterly winds. I hope not, east
winds here are cruel.
But we’re still in autumn and
there’s much to do. I have more
holes to dig and a regiment of
plants to put in them and time is
against me. The rain in October
put me behind and now the
Ledbury Focus
shortening days make it a rush
to get everything done and
there is still all that traditional
autumn tidying to be done.
I go lightly with the seasonal tidy
up. I don’t cut back mature ivy or
berry bearing shrubs until the
birds have stripped them bare. I
don’t burn anything; I leave
prunings in a quiet corner of the
garden out of sight but an
essential habitat and shelter for
many creatures. I sweep up
leaves into piles and leave them
to quietly rot down, giving me an
excellent soil improver next year.
You can also spread some leaves
round shrubs and on herbaceous
borders; they will not only enrich
the soil but provide food for
earthworms and other soil
organisms. insects and any fallen seeds they
might fancy.
Not all seeds on herbaceous
plants are wanted by the birds,
but I still leave my vegetation
uncut as it provides winter shelter
for insects, amphibians and small
mammals. Not cutting back
plants helps ground feeding birds
such as dunnocks and wrens that
won’t come to the bird feeders
but will fossick in the borders for Autumn is tree planting time and
if I could only choose one tree to
plant, it would be an apple tree.
They can be planted in a hedge,
grown in a pot on a patio or as
espaliers against a wall. An apple
tree is good for you and the
wildlife. There’s nothing better
than eating an apple you’ve
picked off your own tree.
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