The Garden Beneath Our Feet

As autumn deepens, colours that have been hidden all summer begin to emerge. In this episode, Josef looks at the science and beauty behind autumn leaves, how the green of chlorophyll fades to reveal yellows and golds, while reds develop under the particular conditions of the season. But a tree changing colour is doing far more than putting on a display. Before its leaves fall, valuable resources are drawn back into the plant as it quietly prepares for winter. This is also an ideal time to plant a tree. With moisture returning to the soil and some warmth still held below ground, roots can begin establishing even as visible growth slows. Josef looks at trees such as crab apples and rowans, and at the extraordinary amount of wildlife habitat a single tree can create over its lifetime. As foliage thins, other details are revealed too, the shape of branches, the texture of bark and the miniature landscapes created by lichens. Autumn is not simply taking things away. It is showing us what summer had hidden. Gardening on the Wild Side with Josef Lloyd is a weekly, bite-sized wander through the changing garden and the wildlife that shares it. Find out more: https://gardeningonthewildside.co.uk

Autumn is scattering the ingredients of future gardens everywhere. In this episode, Josef looks beneath the trees at acorns, nuts and seeds, and at the animals quietly helping to move them through the landscape. Jays bury acorns for later and inevitably forget some, giving new oak trees the chance to begin far from the parent tree. It is a reminder that not all gardening is deliberate. Seeds travel, nuts are buried, plants appear in unexpected corners and nature has always been rather good at planting without a plan. Josef also explores autumn sowing, when hardy annuals can be scattered into still-warm soil for an early start next spring, and looks at the plants still flowering even as the rest of the garden begins to retreat. Above ground, autumn may look like decline. Beneath it, seeds are settling, roots are storing energy and the garden is already preparing for another year. Gardening on the Wild Side with Josef Lloyd is a weekly, bite-sized wander through the changing garden and the wildlife that shares it. Find out more: https://gardeningonthewildside.co.uk

As October arrives and the evenings draw in, the garden begins to reveal a different side of itself. In this episode, Josef heads outside at dusk to explore the wildlife and seasonal changes that become easier to notice once daylight begins to fade. Redwings may be passing overhead on their autumn migration, while hedgehogs continue to move through gardens below, feeding and preparing for the colder months ahead. Falling leaves also take centre stage — not as waste to be cleared away, but as one of the garden’s richest natural resources. Gathered for leafmould or left beneath shrubs and hedges, they provide shelter, food and eventually return their nutrients to the soil. And while much of the garden appears to be slowing down, autumn remains an excellent time for planting. Beneath the surface, roots can continue establishing themselves long after visible growth has quietened. The garden hasn’t stopped. It has simply changed shifts. Gardening on the Wild Side with Josef Lloyd is a weekly, bite-sized wander through the changing garden and the wildlife that shares it. Find out more: https://gardeningonthewildside.co.uk

The autumn equinox has passed, and the garden has crossed an almost invisible line. In this episode, Josef explores the quiet change from summer growth to autumn provision. Hawthorn berries, rose hips, blackberries and apples begin to fill the garden’s natural larder, while flowering ivy becomes an invaluable late source of nectar for bees, hoverflies and other insects. Closer to the ground, autumn fungi reveal just a glimpse of the extraordinary hidden world working beneath our feet, breaking down fallen material and returning it to the soil. There’s also fruit to gather and spring bulbs to plant — a reminder that gardening is always connected to what comes next. A bulb planted now may become an important source of food for an emerging queen bumblebee months from now. The garden may be beginning to quieten, but it is far from empty. It is simply shifting its energy into different places. Gardening on the Wild Side with Josef Lloyd is a weekly, bite-sized wander through the changing garden and the wildlife that shares it. Find out more: https://gardeningonthewildside.co.uk

There comes a point in September when the garden begins to change almost before we notice it. In this first episode, Josef wanders through a garden sitting gently between summer and autumn - where flowers are still opening, fruit is ripening and bees remain busy, but seed heads, dew and softer morning light are beginning to hint at what comes next. It is also a time when the instinct to tidy can become difficult to resist. But fading flowers, hollow stems, longer grass and fallen material can all provide food, shelter and habitat for the creatures sharing our gardens. Josef looks at how a garden can remain cared for without becoming overly controlled, and why leaving some seed heads, stems, logs and quieter corners untouched can make it richer, more interesting and more alive. Sometimes the most useful thing we can do in a garden is not another job at all. It is simply to notice what is already happening, and leave a little room for the wild. Find out more: https://gardeningonthewildside.co.uk