How to help garden wildlife survive winter

Winter is often a tough time for birds and animals, but there are lots of things gardeners can do - and not do - to help them outThe pretty autumnal changes outside your window - the fiery colouring of leaves, the gentle decline of herbaceous plants - are all about survival. With the mean months ahead of them, garden plants are shedding everything soft and vulnerable, withdrawing their energies below the earth to a bundle of roots, or dropping soft leaves so that only tough craggy bark faces the elements. They will spend the next few months in a state of suspended animation, and they are not the only ones: garden wildlife is undergoing the same process, with each creature finding its own way of minimising effort and sustaining life through the gloom. But there are lots of things gardeners can do - and refrain from doing - to help them out. Continue reading...