Not tidying garden

I leave as much as I can to cut down in spring - frost covered perennials look lovely and give another dimension to the garden in winter - but I'm thinning invasive plants such as marjoram and self-heal at the moment although leaving a few for next year because the bees love them.

2 years ago I tried leaving it all till spring time but because I grow all fruit and veg from seed and run an allotment I chased my tail all spring/ summer long.
I now do most of the tidying and leave a little for wildlife .

I’m desperately trying to finish up the section I started on and get all my plants in. Plenty of wild areas elsewhere in my garden although all the shrubs do need a prune back - something my gardener loves to do, almost too much😂

I have any area about 25 foot square that I have left uncultivated for the last 25+ years. It is a natural mess (in the best meaning of the word. the rest of the graden is shrubbery or Fruit & vegetables. I have very few flowers or seed heads, wild are apart, so I will be getting the tidying done as usual.

I think weeding is fine. The main thing seems to be leaving stems and seedheads in situ and some piles of leaves and small sticks. I have a small pile of rotting wood and sticks etc against the back fence. Mind you, I’m not a tidy gardener - too lazy 😂

I can’t manage the whole of my garden in Spring if I don’t do some of the work in the Autumn, it’s just too much work and the weeds run away with me so I can’t catch up. I compromise by pruning the shrubs, the roses and weeding properly by the beginning of November, but not chopping back the perennials until the Spring.

Leave it as long as you can. Many insects and small animals will use the shelter to survive bad weather. I have to admit it drives me mad by February but grit your teeth if you can. Nature will thank you.

I give different parts of the garden a proper going over in different years. It makes the work manageable and keep plenty of food and shelter for the wildlife

I still have a lot of colour in my garden and that will continue to be the case until well into December. I won’t be cutting much back until early spring. There will be plenty of shelter and seed heads, berries and rose hips for the wildlife. It’ll be a pain come next spring I know!