The Gardening Journal, Episode 40: Fall Garden Clean-Up Transcript

Hi, I'm Niki Jabbour. With the arrival of autumn, many gardeners are ready to give their vegetable and perennial gardens a good tidy and say goodbye until spring.
Well, it may be tempting to do a thorough cleanup. Less is actually more when it comes to tidying up in autumn.

Why? It's not due to laziness, but instead concern for the beneficial insects and pollinators that call our gardens home.

Today I'm going to offer you tips on smart garden cleanup for fall. First, let's talk about preparing ornamental shrub and perennial gardens for winter. Traditionally, cleanup involved cutting back foliage and stems and raking up any autumn leaves that fell in the beds. Sanitizing the garden, this way isn't good for the plants, but it's also not good for the native bees and butterflies who overwinter in hollow plant stems and under leaf debris.

Plus the seed heads from coneflowers and other perennials provide food for birds and winter interest to the garden, especially with plants like ornamental grasses.

I don't cut any of my perennial plants back in autumn and I also don't rake the leaves from the beds. Instead, I add a thin layer of leaves around my perennials to insulate them over winter, prevent weed growth, and provide protection for overwintering caterpillars, ladybugs, and other good bugs.

Once spring arrives and the weather has warmed, I carefully rake the leaves from the beds and add them to my compost pile. I also have some newly planted roses in my pollinator garden. And while they're hardy shrub roses, I want to provide a bit of extra protection for them this first winter. This is where autumn leaves come in handy. Once again. I'll pile up shredded leaves around the crown of the plants to provide insulation against the freeze thaw freeze cycle of winter.

Another task for the end of the growing season is to clean up the containers, window boxes and hanging baskets that were filled with annual plants like this pot of petunias. I empty out the potting mix typically into my raised beds and toss the spent plants on the compost pile. The empty containers are then stored in my shed or garage for the winter.

In the vegetable garden, cleanup plant debris and pull any late season weeds to prevent winter soil erosion and enrich the soil top dress beds with compost aged manure, shredded leaves or straw. If you still have root vegetables like carrots, beets or parsnips in the garden, deep mulch them with a foot of straw and harvest into winter.
The cold weather will make the roots even sweeter.

Compost is an excellent soil amendment for the flower and vegetable garden, adding organic matter and improving soil texture and moisture retention. And with a bounty of fallen leaves available in autumn it's the perfect time to start a backyard compost pile. I have several bins that I built from untreated pallets, as well as a dual batch rolling composter. It has two side-by-side compartments, which allow me to continuously produce small batches of compost. Finally, don't forget that Autumn is a great time to plant trees, shrubs, perennials, spring flowering bulbs and garlic.
I just picked up a couple of new shrubs for my garden and the mild temperatures warm soil and increased rain of autumn will help them settle in nicely.

Happy growing