Hello, it’s Kerry here with more dispatches from the Frome Seed Library.
Autumn has well and truly arrived, and with it an overriding temptation to head on out to the garden and tidy up before the onslaught of winter, but before you reach for the snippers and rake, take a moment to consider doing, well, nothing!
Ok, perhaps not quite nothing. There will always be slippery leaves to be gathered from walkways (to be piled up in a corner for our garden critters), bird feeders to be filled, beds to be mulched, and bulbs to be planted, but there’s also glorious autumnal light to bask in, conker battles to contest, and seed heads to be left. Yes, that’s right, your eyes do not deceive you; your local seed library is condoning the ‘abandonment’ of seeds.
You see, plants for the most part are generous fellows, they want to produce offspring, and as anyone who has ever grown hollyhock, nigella and poppies will attest – they will generally produce more seeds than you know what to do with, and we say this as a seed library serving a population of nearly 30,000 people! So, maybe just leave them?
Left to their own devices, many plants will self-sow, not only does this save you money come the spring, but any offspring that have survived the winter will undoubtedly be more resilient and become stronger adult plants.
The wildlife in your garden will also thank you. Seeds provide birds, particularly finches and tits, with a high-fat, energy-rich source of food when they most need it, and seed heads can also act as five-star accommodation for overwintering insects.
Some plants also make mighty fine corpses (it is spooky season after all), providing architectural interest within the garden right through to the spring; grasses, echinacea, asters, sedums are just a few, but for more inspiration head to Piet Oudolf’s iconic garden at Hauser & Wirth in Bruton. It’s very nice.
So, if you’re heading into the garden this week, by all means save a few seeds for next year, but also maybe just put the kettle on and have a sit down; you deserve it.
