Autumn is when many of us reach for the rake and the secateurs with a sense of duty. But a garden that is genuinely good for wildlife in November rarely looks tidy. The leaves, the seed heads, the hollow stems and the berried hedges are all working for something — and most of the jobs that matter now are as much about restraint as effort. Here is what to do, and what to leave well alone, over the coming weeks.

Leave the Leaves

Fallen leaves are one of the most valuable things your garden will produce all year. They are food and shelter in one: moth larvae, beetles, hedgehogs and slow worms all use leaf litter, and earthworms pull the leaves down into the soil, improving its structure for free.

Do sweep them off the lawn and paving — a thick layer will smother grass and make paths slippery. But don't send them away in the green bin. Rake them onto borders, bank them around the base of trees and shrubs, or fill a wire bin or bin liner punched with holes to make leaf mould. Beech and oak leaves break down slowly and make the finest leaf mould of all; sycamore and horse chestnut rot down faster.

• Leave at least one corner of the garden thick with leaves and undisturbed until spring.
• Net or gently rake leaves out of a pond, but leave a ramp or a bundle of twigs at the edge so frogs and hedgehogs can climb out.
• Pile leaves under hedges and behind sheds rather than spreading them thinly everywhere.

Hold Off on the Cut-Back

The single best favour you can do for birds and insects this month is to put the secateurs down. Seed heads on teasel, sunflower, echinacea, sedum, eryngium, fennel, honesty and cardoon will feed goldfinches, bullfinches and tits right through the lean months. A standing stem is also a winter bedroom: many solitary bees, ladybirds and lacewing larvae hibernate inside hollow or pithy stems.

Wait until late February or March, once a decent run of frosts has passed and the birds have stripped what they want. Then cut perennials back to 30–45 cm stubs rather than to the ground, and stack the cuttings loosely in a corner instead of shredding everything. If you can bear it, leave one or two clumps standing all year round — they will be colonised by overwintering insects and used as nesting material in spring.

Plant a Bare-Root Hedge

From November to March, while plants are dormant, bare-root whips are cheap, light to handle and establish far better than potted stock. Avoid planting in frozen or waterlogged ground; a mild, damp spell is ideal.

A mixed native hedge is the best wildlife investment most gardens can make. It offers blossom for early pollinators, caterpillars for chicks, berries for thrushes and a safe corridor for hedgehogs and small mammals. A good mix includes hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, field maple, hornbeam, dog rose, guelder rose, crab apple and spindle.

• Plant whips 30–45 cm apart in a double, staggered row for a dense hedge.
• Dig a trench, fork in garden compost, firm the plants in well and water thoroughly.
• Mulch with bark or leaf mould, and fit spiral guards to protect against rabbits and deer.
• No room for a hedge? A single rowan, crab apple, silver birch or hawthorn in a lawn will do a great deal.

Berries, Ivy and Other Winter Larders

Resist tidying ivy now. Its late flowers are a lifeline for red admirals, commas and hoverflies in September and October, and its black berries ripen in late winter when almost nothing else is available — blackbirds, song thrushes and redwings will strip it in days.

Leave hips and haws on dog rose, hawthorn and rowan until the new year; fieldfares and redwings arriving from Scandinavia rely on them. A few windfall apples left under a tree will keep blackbirds and wasps busy, though remove any that are badly diseased. If you feed the birds, keep a supply of fresh water going too — clean bird baths and feeders regularly to prevent disease, and switch to high-fat foods once the hardest weather arrives.

Shelter, Water and a Little Untidiness

Habitat matters as much as food. A log pile in a shaded corner, a hedgehog box under a dense shrub, a compost heap left unturned until spring and a stack of stones or broken pots will all be used. Check any bonfire heap before you light it — hedgehogs and frogs frequently sleep inside.

In the pond, keep a small area free of ice rather than smashing it, which sends shockwaves through the water. Leave marginal plants standing and avoid clearing all the vegetation; frogs, toads and newts hibernate in the mud and among the roots. Autumn is also the time to clean out nest boxes, removing old nesting material and rinsing with hot water so that birds can roost in them through the cold.

A Short Checklist for the Weeks Ahead

• Rake leaves off grass and paths, then bank them on borders or into a leaf-mould bin.
• Leave seed heads, hollow stems and ivy untouched until late winter.
• Order and plant bare-root hedging while the ground is workable.
• Build a log pile, and check bonfire piles before lighting.
• Clean and refill bird feeders and baths, and keep water unfrozen.
• Clean out nest boxes so they can double as winter roosts.

Do a little of this and your garden will be busier than ever by February — full of birds, buzzing with early bees, and quietly holding a great deal more life than it appears to.