Having had some good weather I have been tidying the garden. Sadly this
has disturbed frogs and toads, sad but must be done. However I have a
pond around which I have allowed nature to do her best (or worst
depending on your view point). Many interesting and some tall plants
have grown, for example thistles and foxgloves. I thought of cutting
this tall growth down to about 6 inches, would this be ok or is it best
leaving it until Spring? If so when would be a safe time to remove all
the dead growth?

On Oct 25, 12:10 pm, Broadback wrote:
Having had some good weather I have been tidying the garden. Sadly this
has disturbed frogs and toads, sad but must be done. However I have a
pond around which I have allowed nature to do her best (or worst
depending on your view point). Many interesting and some tall plants
have grown, for example thistles and foxgloves. I thought of cutting
this tall growth down to about 6 inches, would this be ok or is it best
leaving it until Spring? If so when would be a safe time to remove all
the dead growth?

no one answered and I do not have a good answer so apologies in
advance but I would like to add that in pure gardening terms, it seems
to make little difference whether you cut back in Spring or Autumn.
If you do it in Autumn, things then look much tidier for the Winter.
There are probably some exceptions (shrubs that are better done one
season or the other for example) but it mainly seems a matter of
taste.
On the wildlife front, on the other hand, finches love old seed
heads. They can feed on all kinds of dull looking bits and pieces as
long as they can find the seeds. From a wildlife point of view, I
would leave it all until Spring. This is an uninformed opinion so
take it or leave it :-).

Des

Des Higgins wrote:
On Oct 25, 12:10 pm, Broadback wrote:
Having had some good weather I have been tidying the garden. Sadly this
has disturbed frogs and toads, sad but must be done. However I have a
pond around which I have allowed nature to do her best (or worst
depending on your view point). Many interesting and some tall plants
have grown, for example thistles and foxgloves. I thought of cutting
this tall growth down to about 6 inches, would this be ok or is it best
leaving it until Spring? If so when would be a safe time to remove all
the dead growth?

no one answered and I do not have a good answer so apologies in
advance but I would like to add that in pure gardening terms, it seems
to make little difference whether you cut back in Spring or Autumn.
If you do it in Autumn, things then look much tidier for the Winter.
There are probably some exceptions (shrubs that are better done one
season or the other for example) but it mainly seems a matter of
taste.
On the wildlife front, on the other hand, finches love old seed
heads. They can feed on all kinds of dull looking bits and pieces as
long as they can find the seeds. From a wildlife point of view, I
would leave it all until Spring. This is an uninformed opinion so
take it or leave it :-).

Des

Thanks Des I'll leave it be, tough the untidiness irks me!

In message , Broadback
writes
Having had some good weather I have been tidying the garden. Sadly
this has disturbed frogs and toads, sad but must be done. However I
have a pond around which I have allowed nature to do her best (or worst
depending on your view point). Many interesting and some tall plants
have grown, for example thistles and foxgloves. I thought of cutting
this tall growth down to about 6 inches, would this be ok or is it best
leaving it until Spring? If so when would be a safe time to remove all
the dead growth?

You can cut it back now - I have just finished clearing our wildflower
areas, leaving things like the ferns, pendulous sedge and agrimony in
place. The annuals will have finished seed production a few weeks ago
so it is OK to cut it back to a stubble of a three or four inches. I
suggest that you leave the cut material in situ for a couple of days
then remove it to keep the soil fertility down.

If you are interested in wildflower/wildlife gardening Natural England
have produced a very useful free CD 'Gardening with wildlife in mind'
available from and has a list of really
good free downloadable material at
http://naturalengland.twoten.com/Nat...op/Search.aspx

Should you get bitten by the wildlife gardening bug it is worth having a
look at Chris Baines' 'How to make a wildlife garden' which I have found
to be very valuable.
--
Robert

In message , Broadback
writes
Having had some good weather I have been tidying the garden. Sadly
this has disturbed frogs and toads, sad but must be done. However I
have a pond around which I have allowed nature to do her best (or worst
depending on your view point). Many interesting and some tall plants
have grown, for example thistles and foxgloves. I thought of cutting
this tall growth down to about 6 inches, would this be ok or is it best
leaving it until Spring? If so when would be a safe time to remove all
the dead growth?

Trying again with a link that hopefully works.

You can cut it back now - I have just finished clearing our wildflower
areas, leaving things like the ferns, pendulous sedge and agrimony in
place. The annuals will have finished seed production a few weeks ago
so it is OK to cut it back to a stubble of a three or four inches. I
suggest that you leave the cut material in situ for a couple of days
then remove it to keep the soil fertility down.

If you are interested in wildflower/wildlife gardening Natural England
have produced a very useful free CD 'Gardening with wildlife in mind'
available from and has a list of really
good free downloadable material at
http://www.english-nature.org.uk/Nature_In_The_Garden/

Should you get bitten by the wildlife gardening bug it is worth having a
look at Chris Baines' 'How to make a wildlife garden' which I have found
to be very valuable.
--
Robert