Autumn is the season for tidying your garden, ready to keep it looking neat over the winter and giving you a head start in the spring.

There’s something very satisfying about undertaking tidying tasks. These are things you can do at times to suit you, such as when there’s a sunny autumn afternoon or you know there’s a dry, clement weekend ahead.

Collecting autumn leaves

It sometimes seems that as soon as you’ve swept up leaves, another load drops down! But if you regularly keep on top of leaf fall then it will be less of an onerous task than battling a huge number of leaves in one go. Create an area in your garden to collect the leaves – these will rot down to use as mulch. Dry, medium-sized deciduous leaves from oak, hazel and beech trees and apples trees are preferred by hedgehogs to use for their nests.