And autumn arrives….

  Autumn really has arrived in the form of several sharp overnight frosts and that indefinable damp autumn smell in the air.  Red admirals and commas on the fallen fruit, little gangs of long tailed tits coming through the garden and fungi popping up everywhere!  This coming week I will be picking more fruit for storage and preparing vegetable beds for winter. Any empty space will be covered with home made compost and left for the earthworms to get to work on.  The orchard grass will be cut and raked off and the remains of the oxeye daisies from the pond bank will be strewn around in the hope that a few of the remaining seeds will find a home and germinate.  Then preparation for the non-native meadow will start, as long as the weather is dry.  Busy week!