Preparing Winter Homes

Bamboo edging provides lots of possible winter homes

It's November and although wet, the weather  here is not yet cold. I wonder if this might continue into a mild winter. Unfortunately global warming is nothing if not capricious so for all we know there may be a cold and stormy winter ahead. Many of the garden inhabitants will need places to ride out the weather so I've been checking out the garden to make sure such places exist for all types of wildlife but  especially for all the insects we are in danger of losing. 

What they do not need is an overly tidy environment and that suits me. I am uncomfortable with too much  order - it's boring and smacks of  control. Years ago when I was working on Good Housekeeping I had an untidy wall by my desk on which I pinned cuttings and ideas. Our office manager was scandalised: "You wouldn't do this at home" he said. But I would and did. 

Anyway, there are several ways to provide shelter and some of the best are simply to leave well alone. Fallen leaves for a start can provide good shelter. If you suffer from slugs like me, then don't allow the leaves to lie all over the garden but rake them up,  put them into a tube of stiff netting and let them rot down for a year or so when they will make wonderful mulch. 

                                          

In the meantime lots of little tiny creatures will snuggle in  over winter. If you don't suffer from snails and slugs, you can leave many of the leaves piled up against your garden wall or fence. 

Some untidy twigs and leaves  left by the compost heap

I love the look of specially made bee hotels and suchlike, but actually the garden is already full of little nooks and crannies and holes for bees and other insects. There are piles of prunings and small logs, and plenty of old flower stalks all offering shelter.

       

   Three piles of large and small logs and twigs which can provide plenty of safe havens for insects

One hollow log can make a snug winter home  for all sorts of creatures.                                               

                               

                                                 A hollow log and a pile of old prunings 

There are a number of bamboo edgings I have used to make raised beds for individual plants and I can see they have been used by creatures. There are plenty of little holes and gaps in the walls and I leave some old seed heads standing, for example of teazel  and cardoon which could provide a hidey hole for some tiny friend. Bon hiver mes amis! 

Old flower heads of the cardoon