I find autumn to be a very satisfying season. You quite literally can enjoy the fruits of your labour, or even just enjoy the fruits that you didn’t necessarily labour over!

Have you tried Quince?

It’s been a great year for quince, a forgotten fruit that is enjoying a bit of a revival. We are lucky enough to have a tree in our communal allotment that produces those intriguing, furry, aromatic fruits with almost no intervention on our part. I harvested a few and made a membrillo-style jam. This is absolutely the best thing you can eat with cheese, particularly brebis (think Spanish Manchego or French Ossau Iraty). I followed this recipe and my only recommendation if you want to try it is to increase the cooking time so you get a nice, think jam-like consistency.

A dreaded fungus

However, it has not all been mists and mellow fruitfulness. Let me introduce you to the unwelcome visitor in the title: this, dear readers, is the dreaded Honey Fungus. Destroyer of roots and infector of beloved trees and shrubs. I first suspected its unwelcome underground presence when I suddenly lost two apparently healthy Viburnums and a fabulous Cotinus, which right now should be bathed in wonderful autumn colour. Instead, its a stump. And later we also lost a Privet grown as a small tree. Not good then.

Honey Fungus is untreatable. The only thing you can do is remove infected wood and stumps/roots of dead plants (which act as a host and feed the fungus) as best you can. Then remain hopeful that it won’t strike again. The honey-coloured mushrooms appear at this time of year, and a tell-tale indicator are the white spores it produces, which you can see in the photo.

So we donned rubber gloves, hacked away at stumps in axes and spades, cursed and sweated and then disinfected everything from our tools to our shoes. I suppose that’s one way to spend a Saturday afternoon…

Asters for flowers in autumn

Onto more pleasant autumnal developments in the garden. I love the Asters at this time of year, and I think every garden should squeeze at least one in. For as everything is winding down, this plant suddenly bursts into bloom and perks everyone up. It’s also a welcome late food-source for pollinating insects, and is a lovely way to round off autumn. This one is a Japanese wood aster called Ezo Murasaki, one of the very late flowering Asters. I have it popping up between my Cercis siliquastrum here – like many asters, it’s a bit of a runaway and will spread itself about if the gardener tolerates such behaviour (which generally, I do!).

Grow winter salads

Speaking of runaways, I was shocked to open the lid of my cold frame to discover a sea of lamb’s lettuce seedlings! I must have spread the seeds at some point and forgotten all about them. The Mesclun mix packet you can see was more deliberately sown but has I fear been overcome by the lamb’s lettuce. But I don’t mind too much, as I really love harvesting this salad green over winter. I’ve since been trying to thin it out as this is definitely not following the recommended spacing! By the way, if you don’t have a cold frame, I totally endorse them. They are the best way to enjoy a few fresh leaves all through winter: you can try mustards, winter-hardy lettuces, mizuna, mibuna and winter cress.

Make the most of leaves

And I can’t write a post about autumn without mentioning leaves. We have our fair share, as most of our garden is under the shade of mature deciduous trees. I’m a big believer in leaving them in borders and on the ground. Doing this (doing nothing!) improves the soil texture, gives overwintering insects cover and warmth, provides an insulating mulch and helps to stimulate beneficial microbial and fungal activity, which creates healthier conditions for plants.

I hope you are enjoying autumn and making the most of all those leaves! 🍁