This ancient tradition involves offering gratitude for the growing season – and the abundance we may take for granted while many go without

I have fond, slightly surreal, memories of each autumn in primary school being filled with leaves cut from orange and red paper, bread dough sculptures of bundles of wheat, scarecrows, and tables covered with cans of food. I don’t have children myself, so I don’t know – do schools still celebrate harvest festival?

Traditionally scheduled to coincide with the annual appearance of the harvest moon – which is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox – harvest festival was a celebration of the busiest time in the growing season coming to a close. At this point in the year, when the wheat had been harvested and the fields were being cleared, rural communities would gather to give thanks for the food that would sustain them through the leaner months.

Secateur and strimmer seen better days? Give your tools some TLC with these tried-and-tested tricks

• How to get your garden ready for autumn

Garden tools have it rough, there’s no getting around it. Dragged through the mud, blunted by branches, clogged with clippings and exposed to some of the most wearing of environmental conditions – namely rain, sap and soil – you can’t help but feel the average spanner gets an easier ride than a pair of secateurs.

And yet gardening tools are among the most cherished and expensive of maintenance equipment, with popular brands such as Niwaki and Felco catering to a booming luxury market with embellished components such as leather and rattan handles, and blades forged in the mountains of Yamagata, Japan.

These are the fruiting bodies of fungi that live in compost. They are toxic if eaten but not harmful to plants

What’s the problem?
I’ve noticed tiny mushrooms popping up in my houseplant’s soil. Are they dangerous, and should I be worried?

Diagnosis
What you are seeing are the fruiting bodies of fungi that were already present in the compost – they’re very common and usually nothing to panic about. These fungi thrive in moist, organic-rich soil, and mushrooms appear when conditions are just right, often after a period of regular watering and warm weather. While not harmful to your plant, they are toxic if eaten, so keep them out of reach of children and pets.

To make home-brewed beer, why not grow your own hops? They’re easy to propagate from a rhizome or stem cutting, though they need plenty of room

My partner’s childhood home had a collection of beer barrels, each at a different stage of the brewing process, with one always ready to taste. When we moved out of our tiny flat and into a house, a brewing kit arrived in the post as a housewarming gift from his parents, soon followed by a small hop plant from an old friend, which now takes up more room than anything else in the veg patch.

This perennial has proved easy to grow. Once established, you can expect a flush of bines (similar to vines) to emerge every spring, bearing hop flowers, or “cones”, which are ready to be picked about now.

Don’t panic! This plant has a natural seasonal rhythm, so resist the urge to overwater when it’s bare

What’s the problem?
My Euphorbia ritchiei sprouted a leaf, but it was accidentally knocked off and now it’s bare. Will it grow back?

Diagnosis
Please don’t panic, this east African succulent is unusual in that it grows fleshy leaves along its ridged stems during its growing season, then often sheds them in winter. In its native Kenya, rainfall is seasonal. The plant responds by producing foliage in the wet season, then dropping its leaves in the dry season to conserve water and energy. The green stems continue to photosynthesise so the plant can survive leafless for long periods.

Nostalgic tech; autumn garden hacks; and what to wear when it rains

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When I was 18, I bought a heavily reduced MiniDisc player. This wasn’t even what you could charitably call “fashionably late”, given the format was already on its last legs, but I loved it, and because nobody else was interested, blank discs were dirt cheap. I have a vague recollection of grabbing packs at Poundland, allowing me to create a glorious self-curated library of cheap music, five years before the birth of Spotify.

I’m reminded of this because this week I’ve published a piece on the Filter about the portable audio technology that killed them: MP3 players. Or digital audio players, to give them their more accurate name, given MP3 playback is just one of many supported file formats.

The best beauty Advent calendars in 2025, tested (yes, we know it’s early!)

The finishing touch: great buys for under £100 to lift your living space, chosen by interiors experts

‘It’s better than plastic and cheaper’: 20 sustainable swaps that worked (and saved you money)

How to get your garden ready for autumn: 17 expert tips you can do now – and what to skip

‘The crunch? Spot on’: the best supermarket gherkins, tasted and rated

What to take to university – and what to leave behind, according to students

How to decorate your university room: 16 easy, affordable ways to make it feel like home

Dry herbs, sow green manure, catch the rain: garden professionals share the simple jobs that will make all the difference come next spring

• The best garden tools to make light work of autumn jobs

The nights are drawing in, TV programming is kicking back into gear and there are ominous warnings about “party season”. However, that doesn’t mean we should ascribe to horticultural tradition and “put our gardens to bed”.

There’s still plenty you can do in the garden to make the most of those crisp, bright autumnal afternoons and relish the offerings of the season to come. Whether squeezing some more joy out of the garden before it dies back for another winter or doing jobs your future spring self will thank you for, these are the things that define the season.

Hylotelephiums flower from late summer in borders, pots and gardens – and their brilliant but subtle colours are perfect for autumn days

A friend’s husband has recently embarked on a love affair with an allotment plot. I’m totally delighted for him, and am enjoying the new dimension of our relationship, in which we discuss compost and seed sowing over WhatsApp, and he sends me photographs of the “lotty”. It reminds me of when someone has a newborn – you get to marvel at the progress with none of the hard work.

Recently he texted me a screen grab from my Instagram stories, of a photo of my old garden. “What is this plant? There’s loads on the abandoned plot next to mine.” Sedum, I replied. Well, hylotelephium, technically.

It sells £70 trowels and £3,000 trees – and with A-listers suddenly flocking to the Cotswolds, some of the most famous people on earth have been seen there

Name: Burford Garden Company.

Age: 49.

Tiny insects called thrips feed on the leaves, weakening the plant. Here’s how to discourage them

What’s the problem?
My peace lily has recently developed silver and grey streaks on its leaves. It hasn’t been moved and there haven’t been any changes to its routine – it gets watered and misted once or twice a week. Any advice?

Diagnosis
Silver or grey streaks on peace lily leaves often signify thrips. These are tiny slender insects that feed by scraping the surface of leaves and sucking out the sap, leaving behind a silvery sheen or streaking. They enjoy warm, dry conditions, and can go unnoticed until damage becomes obvious.

Radishes aren’t just for salads – grow winter varieties to enjoy in soups and stir fries

Winter radishes are notably different from the smaller, brighter and often punchier ones you can grow from spring onwards. Winter radishes are left to grow for longer, so they can become larger, and while they can be eaten raw, there are many recipes for cooking them in soups and stir-fries, or roasting them like other root vegetables.

The first winter radish I ever encountered was the ‘Black Spanish Round’ (Raphanus sativus). This heritage variety develops into tennis ball-sized spheres with a rough black skin that conceals bright white, crisp flesh. I didn’t even realise the mooli – or daikon – was a winter radish when I was eating it pickled in a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich or fermented into kimchi. They develop an impressively long, conical root with a mild flavour and pleasingly crunchy texture, and I would grow them if only my heavy clay soil would allow it. The watermelon radish is my personal holy grail. It’s the prettiest radish that I’ve failed to grow despite trying these past few seasons. They’re not much to behold until they’re sliced open to reveal a vibrant fuchsia flesh. I blame end‑of‑summer exhaustion for all the times I’ve tried but haven’t succeeded in growing what ought to be a fairly easy crop.

Guardian-reading neighbours | Pythonesque newspeak | Paper harvest | Express potatoes | Chatbot divorce

Emma Beddington’s observations on neighbours (I don’t believe we’re a nation of neighbours at war – despite what the headlines say, 31 August) are timely and sad. This week, we say goodbye to our lovely neighbours of 19 years. We became friends the day they arrived, in spite of an age difference of some 20 years. Could the key to our friendship be that, in response to a tentative inquiry on that first day, we discovered that we were all Guardian readers? Good luck, Nick and Amy, please stay in touch.
Alistair and Angela Taylor
York

• The examples of newspeak (Letters, 1 September) reminded me of a classic Monty Python example of stringing such verbiage together: “I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not! And I’m sick and tired of being told that I am.”
Phil Coughlin
Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear

All plants need a little light in their lives, but some can thrive even in the shadiest spots

What’s the problem?
We moved house two years ago, and some rooms in our new home have very little natural light. The plants we brought with us aren’t thriving. What houseplants can cope with low light levels?

Diagnosis
Many popular houseplants, especially those that need bright, indirect light, will struggle in dimly lit spaces. Symptoms like yellowing leaves, leggy growth and overall decline are common when plants aren’t getting enough light to photosynthesise properly. But all is not lost. Several houseplants are far more tolerant of low light and can thrive in shadier spots. The key is selecting species that originate from environments where filtered light is the norm.

‘Honour-based’ violence | Venice film festival | Gardening with newsprint | Christmas tree | Politicians’ phrases

Re your article (Domestic violence screening tool should be replaced, Jess Phillips says, 26 August), can we please not use the word “honour” in the context of violent crimes against female family members, either as part of the Dash questionnaire used by police and social services or in new guidance for a legal definition of “honour-based” abuse. Call it what it is: family violence. The girls and young women mutilated and murdered deserve respect.
Lynne Scrimshaw
London

• I was puzzled by your article (Activists hope to shift Venice film festival focus on to crisis in Gaza, 27 August). Why should the festival have to take a position on Palestine any more than on other tragic problems like Myanmar, Sudan or Tibet? It’s a film festival, not the UN.
John Bowles
Edinburgh

Lay the groundwork by prioritising fences, composting and paving – and worry about the plants later

One of the questions I’m often asked when I speak at events usually comes from someone – perhaps half of a couple – who seems wide-eyed with optimism and overwhelm. “We’ve just moved into a new house and it has this garden,” they’ll begin. They don’t know what to do with it; where should they start?

Invariably, I tell them to ignore the traditional advice of waiting for a year to see what comes up. Granted, you may dig up some ancient bulbs, like these grape hyacinths, but it’s your garden now and these risks are yours to take.

They are scale insects, and you’re going to have to take action if you want to prevent your plant from fading away

What’s the problem?
My rabbit’s foot fern (Davallia fejeensis) has developed small, brown lumps along its stems and is leaving sticky droplets on nearby surfaces.

Diagnosis
These brown bumps are almost certainly scale insects. Often mistaken for part of the plant, the scales look like tiny brown discs attached to stems and leaf joints. They feed by sucking sap, weakening your plant over time. The sticky substance you see is honeydew, their waste product, which can attract mould or ants if left untreated. These pests are slow-moving but persistent, and it’s not uncommon for infestations to spread quietly between plants, as you’ve noticed with your collection.

With a pair of secateurs and some compost, you can quickly and easily replenish your garden for free

When we moved into our home, there was a rosemary plant in the bed by the back door. It hadn’t been pruned for some time, so was all legs with a short, dark green hairdo, and after our first winter it promptly died. Fast-forward to around this time last year, when I was searching for my dog after she’d run off into the woods. As I was stomping around, yelling her name, I chanced upon a luscious, hefty rosemary bush. I carry secateurs on dog walks to clear the paths of wandering brambles, so I snipped off a few sprigs and tucked them in my pocket.

The cuttings I took would be described as semi-hardwood or semi-ripe – woodier at the base, with fresh growth at the top – which are ideal for starting new plants. Now is the time to do this with rosemary as well as sage, lavender, thyme and a host of ornamental shrubs and plants.

In the rainforest the plant develops aerial roots that are vital for its health and perfectly natural. But there is a solution if they look too wild for your living room

What’s the problem?
My philodendron has long, white, string-like growths coming out of the stems. Is my plant OK and can I cut them off?

Diagnosis
These curious structures are known as aerial roots, and are completely natural. Philodendrons originate from tropical rainforests, where they climb trees. These aerial roots help it anchor itself, absorb moisture and draw nutrients directly from the humid air. Indoors, however, they can give the plant a slightly wild appearance.

The easy-going, unfussy aster can still flower long into autumn, puffing up the garden with cloud-like blooms of lilac, white or wizard purple

One of the things that makes gardening so perpetually, addictively interesting to me is how it challenges beliefs I’d previously held about myself – often on an annual basis. Some beliefs are big, others are smaller, such as my dislike of asters.

Ask me in the middle of spring, when everything is new and fresh, and the tulip petals look as if they’ve been streaked with a fan-shaped brush, and I will confidently say I’m not an aster fan. Too fussy, too much lilac, too bushy. But scoot forward six months, and I regret I hadn’t planted a few in the gaps that appear at this time of year.

From planting in odd numbers to painting fences and walls the same colour, here are some easy, effective ways to give your outdoor space a seasonal spruce-up

“It is not always necessary to rip out everything and start again,” says Ella Malt, who runs the gardening company Soil and Soul Norfolk. “It is much more sustainable to work with what you have. You can make such a difference with a bit of cutting back, clearing up leaves, cutting an edge on a lawn. People notice edges: you could spend hours making a herbaceous border perfect but if the edge of that border isn’t crisp, it will automatically look untidy.”