The garden in Autumn

This weekend, in between rainy and windy days, I spent the afternoon in the garden raking up the leaves, and bagging some of them to make leaf mould - brilliant for improving the texture and fertility of the soil. In a few months time I should be able to spread the crumbly mix under the hedges, and onto the veg patch. 

Under the holly hedge, cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum) has produced bright red berries - apparently, much favoured by pheasants - but since we have no pheasants, they remain a bright splash of colour when many plants have finished their flowering.

We have one apple tree, growing very close to the house, and F cut off all the branches a few years ago, but leaving the trunk.  It needed a more serious saw (a chainsaw?) than Frank has to tackle the trunk.  For  a couple of years it sent out plenty of leafy stems which we cut off promptly to encourage it to die.  I think we have been successful at last.  The tree is surrounded by mushrooms(inkcaps?) and from the base to the top of the trunk a beautiful purple and pink shelf fungus has spread.  I know the mushrooms thrive where there is dying wood and I think it will probably be the same for the trunk.  We may not need to cut it down after all.

Another identification job for iSpot