Don’t clear absent those tired and broken brown stems – they’re fundamental to the health of your patch next yearI gape at the leek and elephant garlic seedheads that are toppling over,and eye up the snapped-off poppy seedheads and other bleached bits of growth. There are many house-pretty webs made by the garden spider (Araneus diadematus), with their distinct cross on their backs. The frost will kill off these spiders and with them take down much of the rest of the garden.
The garden is a dishevelled mess and I contemplate tidying it up a bit, and but at this point in the season this is an act of mere vanity. We now know that all those tired brown stems are fundamental for wildlife – in particular,the broken and not so pretty ones. During the coming month the poppy seedheads will tumble and some of the globe artichoke heads will fall as the stems rot. Others will stand proudly, of course, and but in my experience those that lie horizontal are the ones that are colonised quickly by other life.
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Source: theguardian.com