Fall Garden Cleanup Guide
As fall brings its beautiful change in foliage, it’s time for flower farmers and gardeners alike to start preparing their spaces for winter. Garden cleanup shouldn’t mean bare beds and discarded plants! In fact, just the opposite. This guide will help you close down your garden in an eco-friendly manner that helps preserve beneficial insects, regenerate soil, protect plants for spring, and stay true to organic and sustainable practices.
Preserve Beneficial Insects
Fall and winter are critical times for beneficial insects like ladybugs, lacewings, native bees, and butterflies. Here’s how we can help them:
Leave Some Stalks and Seed Heads: Hollow and sturdy stems from plants like echinacea, rudbeckia, and Joe-Pye weed are excellent shelter for overwintering insects. Leave these until spring so they can provide habitat for beneficial insects.
“The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.”
--Terri Guillemets
Provide Leaf Litter: Many pollinators like moths and butterflies overwinter as eggs, larvae, or even pupae in leaf litter. Leave a layer of fallen leaves around garden beds to create a safe space for our important friends.
Avoid Excessive Tilling: Tilling disrupts soil microbes and can harm overwintering insects. Instead, practice minimal or no-till methods to keep soil life undisturbed.
Soil Regeneration
Fall is an excellent time to regenerate your garden soil, which has worked hard all year to nourish your plants.
“A garden in winter is the absolute
test of the true gardener.”
--Rosemary Verey
Add Organic Mulch or Compost: Top-dressing beds with a layer of compost or organic mulch replenishes nutrients and adds organic matter that improves soil structure. This layer also helps moderate soil temperatures, retain moisture, and suppress weeds. Many lawn care and landscaping companies will bring you mulched leaves for free!
Plant Cover Crops: Clover, rye, or vetch are excellent fall cover crops that enrich soil nitrogen, suppress weeds, and prevent erosion. In spring, these can be mowed or cut down and incorporated into the soil to increase organic matter.
Use Organic Practices
This step goes hand-in-hand with soil health and the preservation of beneficial insects. Here are some organic methods to consider:
Avoid Synthetic Chemicals: No chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers! These disrupt soil health and kill beneficial insects and microorganisms.
Introduce Beneficial Organisms: To keep pests in check without harmful sprays, encourage beneficial organisms like ladybugs, lacewings, and predatory beetles. You can also apply beneficial nematodes to control soil-borne pests. (We use Arbico Organics)
Apply Organic Fertilizers: If your garden needs extra nutrients, choose organic fertilizers like bone meal, blood meal, or fish emulsion for nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus sources. You can also add biochar and worm castings. A simple soil test will let you know what your soil is missing. We like to use Logan Labs for our soil testing.
Protecting Roses
Roses benefit from a bit of extra protection to survive harsh winter temperatures and return strong in the spring.
Remove Any Diseased Foliage: Clear away any dead or diseased leaves and discard them to prevent disease spread.
Prune Only Lightly: Avoid heavy pruning in fall, as this can stress the plant before dormancy. Trim only tall or unruly canes that may get in the way or be damaged by wind and snow.
Mulch Around the Base: Pile organic mulch or compost around the base of each rose bush, about 8-12 inches deep, to insulate roots. This is especially important with grafted roses.
Cover with Rose Collars: In especially cold areas, place rose collars around bushes to help contain the mulch and add a layer of protection.
“And don’t think the
garden loses its
ecstasy in winter.
It’s quiet, but
the roots down
there are riotous.”
~ Rumi
Winterize Perennials
Most perennials can benefit from a little care before winter, while some can be left alone to naturally decompose and enrich the soil.
Mulch Around Roots: A thick layer of mulch protects root systems and conserves soil moisture. Use straw, shredded leaves, or other organic matter.
Leave Dried Flower Heads on Certain Perennials: Coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and asters provide seeds for birds and shelter for insects. Resist cutting these back until spring.
Cut Back Delicate Perennials: Perennials like peonies and hostas, which can harbor disease if left, are better cut back to avoid issues in spring. Be sure to dispose of this plant material, and not compost it if diseased.
What to Cut Back and What to Leave Until Spring
Knowing which plants to cut back and which to leave until spring is crucial for maintaining garden health and supporting wildlife.
What to Cut Back in Fall: Diseased or Pest-Infested Plants: Remove and dispose of (do not compost) any diseased foliage or pest-infested plants.
Delicate Perennials: Peonies, hostas, and daylilies should be cut back to prevent rot and disease. Annuals: Most annuals can be removed as they will not regrow.
What to Leave Until Spring: Seed Heads: Leave seed heads on plants like sunflowers, coneflowers, and grasses. These provide food for the birds in winter. The birds are an important part of organic pest control.
Perennials with Hollow Stems: Plants like hydrangeas, milkweed, and echinacea support overwintering insects.
Native Perennials: Native plants often provide natural habitats and do best when left to their natural life cycles.
Cut back any tulip, daffodil, and iris foliage if it wasn’t done this summer.
Following these simple, sustainable steps, you can enjoy a more ecologically friendly garden that’s ready to thrive come spring! Remember, a less-tidy garden is often a healthier, more vibrant garden for both plants and pollinators.
Preparing for the next season,
Annie