To Clean or Not to Clean; A Followup to Last Fall’s Decision

Wow! It’s time to start gearing up for planting (soon)! The year just seems to be in overdrive. We had our first taste of 70 degrees and now we are plunging back into the snow and cold. In a span of 48 hours, I’ve seen my first Mason bees, frogs have been singing and my first mosquito landed on me and met his maker! We’ve had a string of quite a few days above 50 degrees and the ground has finally thawed. Now, it’s time to start the cleanup of my garden and prep for this year’s bounty.

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Last Fall, I made the courageous decision NOT to cleanup my garden before the winter. It was kind of liberating not having to deal with trying to get my garden cleaned up and harvesting and storing all my goodies. I was able to just focus on the harvest and storage; which was a big time saver. But, did it work? Was it worth it? Was it more work to cleanup this spring? I’m here to say…. I’m a BIG FAN of a No Fall Cleanup! And here’s why….

First, to be truly honest. I just really liked the fact I didn’t have to spend all that time cleaning up the garden while I was trying to harvest, clean, cut, can, freeze, dry and store my harvest. Plus, my fall raspberries were quite late and very prolific so I had a lot to do. And we ended up getting a really early hard freeze, so I was scrambling at 9 o’clock one night just trying to save my tomatoes since sheets and rows covers were not going to save the plants from the hard freeze. I ended up having a TON of TOMATOES all over my house in various stages of ripeness, which meant I had very little time, or desire, to cleanup the garden. For me, this was a big “Thumbs Up” and a HUGE time saver.

Second, I had plenty of hiding places and homes for animals throughout the cold, harsh winter. I had Mason and Solitary bees taking up residence in my leaf and grass litter. The rabbits took a scene straight from Bambi and built a comfy little home inside my raspberry bushes. And the toads… they burrowed in under the heavy compost I laid on top of my rhubarb to protect (and feed) it over the winter. It felt kind of good knowing the critters would have a warm, cozy spot when it got to be -40 degrees this winter.

Third, due to my inability to pull all the ripe raspberries off before our hard freeze, our birds had plenty of goodies to munch on. The chickadees and nuthatches filled up on tasty, overripe berries and seeds from the broom corn, while the rabbits cleaned up anything they dropped or found on the ground. And since there were “extras” left in the garden, we had more wildlife this year than in the past. We seen more little birds, turkeys, pheasants, rabbits, deer, owls and hawks canvasing our property. This was really nice to see. Plus, it was fun for our farm boys to track the various animals in the snow.

Lastly, by not cleaning up this fall, we protected our soil from erosion due to late season rains and our never-ending wind. Now the leaf and grass litter will breakdown during the freeze thaw cycles and much of it will get incorporated into the soil to help replenish nutrients for this year’s crops.

Since I liked quite a few things about not cleaning this Fall, what didn’t I like? Only two things come to mind. The first was that my garden looked like a COMPLETE DISASTER! Tall grasses that didn’t get pulled, vines that were still on trellises, vines canvasing the ground, sunflower and broom corn stalks still reaching towards the sky. Just an utter and complete disaster. I didn’t like it, but I lived with it.

The only other “issue” I had, which was my own fault, was there were some late season weeds and grasses that probably spread seeds, which will wreak havoc this spring and summer. I know I’m going to regret not disposing of them properly last fall, but alas, live-n-learn!

The big question is… Would I do it again? In a HEARTBEAT! I’m going to make it a “regular thing” in my garden. But I will do a couple things a little different. Again… Live – Learn – Adjust – Try Again! So, my big plans/ changes for the No Fall Cleanup include….

One, I WILL (famous last words) remove all the invasive grasses and weeds so they don’t go to seed and spread in my garden. Just seems like a no-brainer, but something I definitely have to remember.

Two, Don’t be too eager to get in there and cleanup in the Spring. This one is actually very important for the solitary and mason bees, as well as, other small critters who made my garden their winter home. The weather needs to turn “nice” so these animals wake up from their hibernation and get moving in the world. If you start too soon, you’ll just “scoop up” the bees, freeze out the frogs and kill off beneficial friends.

The general rule of thumb is the weather needs to consistently be above 50 degrees for at least a week, or so. This will give our winter inhabitants time to have their first couple “cups of Joe” to get the fire lit inside and move onto new digs for the spring and summer. But once it warms up a little and you start to hear the birds singing, the frogs bellowing and the buzz of a bee (and possibly a mosquito)… It’s time to cleanup!

Since I’ve tested this new process, I’ve found I can SAVE TIME – PROVIDE WINTER HABITAT – PROVIDE WINTER FOOD – CONSERVE TOP SOIL. Definitely a “keeper” in my book. Just need to tweak it a little more each and every year to increase my efficiency in the garden. So, my challenge to you…. Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed!