u/Ok_Mousse_6218

All change - autumnal garden packed away and it’s Halloween here for the rest of the month!
My fairy garden in an old Belfast sink.

Need some suggestions with what to do in this space over the winter, please.
Every year, I harvest and clear what I’ve grown, put the baskets down to stop the cats and squirrels making a mess and the vegetable patch then lies dormant until March.
It seems like more than a bit of a waste of five months.
We’re in the S/W of the UK. it’s in a North East facing corner with a neighbour’s Lelydandi “protecting” it from the late afternoon sun. Midday/early afternoon the house “protects “ it so it only gets a brief window in the morning up until lunchtime sun.
What can I grow here in the winter? I’ve never done much with winter planting and am feeling a little overwhelmed.

I’ve had some success with growing sweet bell peppers this year, but now that it’s getting cooler I’m worried leaving them out in the greenhouse (I’m renting, it’s an unheated plastic thing) - presumably I can bring them indoors and keep on a sunny windowsill?
Having got this far it would be a shame to lose them to the cold.
Heating the greenhouse isn’t an option, unfortunately.

Beautifully sweet, I was gifted a packet of seeds last year, but the weather was so miserable all I had was a crop of green tomatoes but thanks to five heatwaves not so this year!
These beauties came from one of the tomatoes grown last year, I’m tempted to save some seeds from one of them to see what will grow next year; for tonight, I have these - they’re so sweet I’ve been eating them as if they were grapes!

Last year was so dismal that I harvested naught but a load of green tomatoes from the heirloom cherry tomato seeds gifted to me.
I saved some of the seeds and am delighted this year to see them ripening on the vine thanks to the crazy (scarily) hot summer we’ve had.

I had an interesting chat with a newbie gardener a while ago who was looking to get “the perfect lawn” and I was explaining that by having a mixed lawn you decrease the chances of the grass totally drying out in hot weather, as the longer reaching roots of the other plants (Daisies, Buttercups, wild Strawberry, Self Heal, Dandelions which I keep an eye on) hold more moisture closer to where the grass roots are and help prevent lawns drying out so badly.
His response? My lawn looks “messy”.
So………here are some before and after pictures (the last one taken this morning) of my messy lawned garden- halfway though our fifth heatwave.
I’m sticking with the messy lawn and have bought clover to add to it once the weather calms down a bit.

Bees have taken up residence in the corner compost bin - what do I do?
*EDIT* Panic over, leaving them bee (sorry - I couldn’t help myself!) for now and emptying/restocking the compost bin the late autumn!
Hopefully I’ll be able to use it next year. Will see what bee hotels etc I can set up in other areas of the garden in the meantime.
Thank-you everyone who helped with this.

I have ADHD and taught myself to crochet (Thanks WikiHow!) a couple of years ago. I can’t read or understand patterns or follow videos on YouTube Tube, so it’s a bit of a challenge at times.
Here’s my latest creation - a cotton (Utopia brand, 3.5 hook size) cover for my hot water bottle which I’ve been using as a cold water bottle to cool the bed down during a heatwave.