Spring in Western New York is fleeting, maybe just a little bit more than a state of mind. The actual gardening season from early summer to mid-fall is more substantial, but still short enough. The other day, our Facebook gardening group got this private message: “Am I evil for clearing away leaf litter and dead branches before temps get reliably to 50 degrees? Some advice says consistently 50 during the day and some say overnight temps of 50. Gardening season is short enough as it is, and following this rule seems excessive.”
Leaf debris works fine here.
“Am I evil?” EVIL? No, she is not evil—I know her personally and she’s a kind, intelligent person. Her lovely garden is filled with native plants, as well as others, and, like me, she does no fall cleanup, with seedheads left up for whomever may want to avail themselves. But the 50 degree rule is a bit harsh for our zone. A lot of the time, you can’t even count on that in June—not at night, anyway—and by then, you really should have had the garden in shape, if you care about it at all. Nongardeners would have the advantage here, I suppose, but I find that nongardeners tend to value neatness more and would neither know nor care about any 50 degree rule.
Not so much here.
These edicts tend to show up as memes on social media and they are having an effect. I think this is, overall, a good thing. We should be sensitive to the needs of pollinators, and many are unaware of the lifecycles of the insects who share their gardens. But compromise is necessary. I have many reasons for keeping a garden, but one of my main sources of joy is the emergence of perennials and bulbs, like the species tulips shown above and at top—my only color in a front area that is all shade in the summer—in the early season. I can’t see them if they’re buried under leaf litter and other debris. It has to be cleared away at some point and, in my small urban space, there’s nowhere to hide it. It gets picked up for composting. I’ll do my best in other ways—no spraying obviously, the use of natives, and dense plantings that are left up through winter. Otherwise, at some point, there will be cleanup, and it will be earlier than some creatures may prefer. I had to laugh when I saw this comment in our group: “Any insects still trying to snooze in my beds just got woken up like a teenager on Monday morning!”
Rise and shine.
Love it. We have to make the best choices for our own gardens, it shouldn’t be a one-fits-all approach. – MW
I very much understand your post on this! I used to live in Western NY – Roch/Buff area, but have lived in Wisconsin for the last 22 years. We have very similar topography and climate. I see the posts too about not cleaning up one’s garden in the spring on social media. Like you, I leave the plants alone in the fall. But, when spring comes – we are itching to get outside. My husband does most of the clean up so the beds are ready for me to plant (not until after Memorial day due to weather). So, no- we don’t wait to clean up either – despite understanding the need to help pollinators – which we do (as you do) in other ways. Well stated in your piece today!
I’m fed up with being made to feel bad about my gardening practice. I,like you,leave the autumn clearup till spring. I grow natives as well as ornamental plants and I try to care for my patch organically. I wait until I regularly see three different invertebrates in the garden,then it’s clear up time! Every year,I see more wildlife,so they clearly don’t read the memes!
We get nights below 50 quite often into July!!! That wouldn’t work too well in my Zone 4 garden. Do what works for you and ignore the judgmental “rules”.
I agree! We still have cold nights and I am itching. I pruned a Hydrandgea Pee Gee and wow I hope this year it looks the best. Raking leaves I haven’t ever done.
I will dig out or prune thorny vines early spring. It’s easiest.
I live in Calgary where Spring shows up for a couple of hours before a snowstorm hits then bang you’re right into summer. If not careful it’s suddenly too late to do any clean up so I go with whenever I have time to do some tidying. Lots of insects, beetles, bees and others don’t seem to mind.
Off-season? I finish cleaning up my leaves around Christmas, because that is when they are finally all down. I leave most of them in the gardens though. February is time to clean off all the dead leaves on the Hellebores, cut back roses, and plant peas. Early March and time to do first grass cutting and cut back all the ferns. Zone 8 in SE VA. My sister moved to Oneonta NY after she was married and took years to get used to the winters up there. My wife calls my gardening my sanity time. I don’t know how you manage with such a short gardening season. I’d go crazy.
Of course, the long hot and humid summer is not always so pleasant.
I love the time off. We have a great fall here and, sometimes, a decent spring.
You may, of course, have very heavy dead leaves. And deep deep litter. But here I find everything comes up quite happily through our leaf litter – and through the debris from cut down perennials which get left on the beds and borders.
But clearly you all have a ceremony we are missing out on here, if you can just decide on the date to have it?
Xxxx
Matted Norway maple leaves are not mulch, believe me. But the post is really about scary simplistic memes. I know many are able to keep leaf litter and debris, mainly on more expansive spaces than mine. It looks better in a big garden.
You’re right to call that, of course. And I do find hellebore leaves, for example, are not terribly attractive when cut down – but tidying is beyond me. Garden size: you are quite right! And I hate removing any organic matter. Xxx
PS I call it ‘mulch’.
I Agree I will dig out or prune thorny vines in early spring. It’s easiest.