Autumn leaves: how to prepare your garden for winter more sustainably

As summer crops and blooms wind down and cosiness calls, it’s time to prepare our outdoor spaces for the cooler months. Getting your garden ready for winter doesn’t have to mean costly trips to the garden centre and can instead be approached with resourcefulness and a focus on “closed systems” that minimise waste and encourage biodiversity.Save those seedsBelinda Thackeray, horticulturist and manager of Sydney City Farm, says now is a great time to turn plants on their last legs into a resource for the warmer months. “We try to save seeds off anything that we’ve got … it’s a really important part of the cycle.”Plan your menu, get kids involved and be realistic: how to pack better school lunchesRead moreThackeray explains there’s two common ways to make the most of annuals as their productive season ends. Firstly there’s wet production, “for things like your tomatoes, your cucumbers”. This method involves gathering the seeds of fleshy produce and soaking them in water. This process loos...