Jill Severn’s Gardening Column

Fall garden cleanup: Less is more

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Fall is falling faster since November got underway. Its glorious colors are moving from up in the trees to down on the ground. The infernal howl of leaf blowers is upon us. ‘Tis the season for cleaning gutters, clearing leaves off the grass, and putting the garden to bed for the winter.

But this year that work might be easier. Conventional wisdom used to call for thorough fall clean-up. The advice was to pull up all the annuals by their roots, cut perennials back to the ground, and rake up every leaf in every garden bed to prevent insects and diseases from overwintering. Garden sanitation, they called it.

In the last few years, that advice has been debunked. Now we are advised to give ground-nesting bees and other insects a break and leave them some vegetative blankets to spend the winter under.

Why, you may ask, should we save those insects?

So birds can eat them. Well, some of them at least. Most of the insects in our gardens are benign, and many are beneficial pollinators, without whom no blossom would bear fruit. Insects are, in many areas, in decline, and that may contribute to decreasing songbird populations.

We are also advised to leave at least some perennials and annuals standing for insects that overwinter inside their stems, and for the seed pods on plants like sunflowers and echinacea that birds can snack on during the winter.

All this is good news for those of us whose gardening energy has reached a low ebb during this dreary stretch of rainy weather and ever-briefer daylight.

Here are some exceptions to the new advice

There are, however, exceptions to this looser and more relaxed approach to fall chores. These include:

  • Vegetable garden cleanup is still a good idea to prevent common harmful pests and diseases from overwintering.
  • Anything that was afflicted by powdery mildew (a light grey fuzz on leaves) or aphid infestations should definitely be removed, and not put in the compost heap.
  • Any other plants that are diseased –whether in ornamental or vegetable gardens – should also be removed completely.
  • Leaves on grass can harm the grass, so raking (Not blowing! Please!) leaves off the lawn makes sense. Some garden gurus suggest you should mulch those leaves and cover your vegetable beds with them to smother weed seeds. Come spring, you can dig them in to enrich the soil.

Then there is the issue of how to plant bulbs like tulips – if, like me, you haven’t done so yet, which may require clearing out some vegetation to make room for them. We also need to provide light and space for bulbs that are already in the ground. Many are winter growers. Some, like my favorite bluebells (scilla) have already pushed up leaves that need to be liberated from the heavy foliage of exhausted perennials.

So . . . lots to think about from those of us fortunate enough to live inside cozy homes where it’s warm and dry. Surely at some point this month we’ll have a rainless day or two to actually go outside and do just what needs to be done – not less, but not more either.

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com

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