Creating Order in a Forest of Leaves

Autumn is a wonderful season, because the colours play one last time in the garden before the dreary winter sets in. The best time is when most of the plants are still bearing their leaves and creating a canopy of the most beautiful colors - brown, yellow, gold, copper, mauve, orange, red and black - for garden lovers to enjoy. It is precisely this blaze of colour that makes autumn all the more beautiful, because in summer you can usually only see monotonous green.

The right weather

Admittedly, there is nothing you can do about the weather. Even so, it has a huge impact on how the garden looks in autumn. A large difference between the day and night temperature is perfect for creating a colourful feast for the eyes. The greater this difference, the more colourful the foliage will be. Mild and rather humid weather, on the other hand, is not ideal. In this weather, the leaves are green for a long time and then unfortunately very quickly turn brown.

The right choice of plants

So that the garden really unpacks the paint bucket in autumn and colours everything perfectly, the right plants must have been sown. Anyone who has grown on the Parthenocissus virgin vine, the witch hazel Hamamelis or the Nyssa tupelo tree can literally immerse themselves in the most beautiful sea of colours come autumn.

Raking leaves

Once the foliage has fallen, take care to rake it up. Just remember not to put it directly on the compost heap. If the layer of leaves on the compost is too thick, it will slow down the rotting process.

You have two options. Either put a thin layer of leaves on top of the compost heap, on which you then place a thin layer of compost, followed again by a thin layer of leaves - and so on until you get rid of all the leaves. Or you can collect the leaves in sacks with holes and spread of them during the following year over the garden and on the compost heap.

Attention: Slippery Surfaces

In autumn, it is very important to remove leaves from the pavements. The more wintry it gets, the wetter and muddy the foliage becomes. So it represents a source of danger that should not be underestimated. If you slip, you will get a few bruises in the best case, but you could also break a bone. To prevent this, you should always remove leaves from paths, balconies and terraces in good time.