Year-round gardening: Is it time to clean up your Colorado garden? Well, it depends. | Lifestyle

The need for seasonal garden cleanup can be a controversial subject. How much to do in autumn, and how much to leave for spring, is a question best answered by, “It depends.” Questions to ask yourself include:

• What are you growing?

• What insect and animal pests do you want to manage?

• What beneficial insects do you would like to protect?

• Is debris needed to protect marginally hardy perennials from extreme weather changes?

• Will debris impair the growth of turf?

It is important for gardeners to understand that the plants do not need to be cleaned up; gardeners clean up to get the outcomes we wish in our gardens. Dead and decaying vegetation will decompose over time, but removing vegetation may be beneficial for the reasons detailed below.

If grasshoppers ravaged your garden this year, a thorough cleanup of all debris will expose eggs laid in the upper inches of soil to the elements, reducing next spring’s hatch. Conversely, ground-nesting bumble bees need that same debris to overwinter. If grasshoppers didn’t impact your garden, leaving some debris will help the beneficial bees.

If you are a vegetable gardener, cleanliness is next to disease-free crops. Debris left in place in the garden gives pathogens a place to shelter and survive winter. Remove all vegetation from the vegetable patch.

Ornamental grasses can be cut back in either autumn or late winter. Unpruned, they provide winter interest with seed heads peeking up over the snow, and provide seed for birds. Large grasses can provide shelter for small rodents like mice or voles. If rodents are a problem in the garden, cutting back in autumn might be a better option.

Perennial flower gardens offer choices. You can clean up in autumn and have less work to do in spring. If cutting back and cleaning up in fall, make sure you leave green foliage in place. Leaving the foliage will provide some insulation and minimize moisture loss to the roots. If your garden includes plants that are marginally hardy, defer cut-back to spring.

Plants that reseed can be either a blessing or a curse. Deadhead seed heads of overly aggressive r-seeding plants, or leave the seed heads if you want lots more!

While raking leaves off the lawn may be an iconic fall task, it isn’t always necessary. Instead, use your lawn mower to mulch the leaves, then leave mulch in place or bag and use it elsewhere in the garden. Mulching hastens the decay of leaf litter. If you have a thick coating of leaves capable of smothering the grass, remove some with a rake and then mulch the rest with your mower.

Be intentional when deciding what to clean up in autumn and what to leave for spring cleanup. Remember the plants don’t “need” it; it is all about what outcomes the gardener wants to achieve.

Submit gardening questions to [email protected] or call 719-520-7684. The in-person help desk is closed for the seasony; questions submitted via email will be answered remotely. Find us on Facebook at Colorado Master Gardeners – El Paso County.

Submit gardening questions to [email protected] or call 719-520-7684. The in-person help desk is closed for the seasony; questions submitted via email will be answered remotely. Find us on Facebook at Colorado Master Gardeners – El Paso County.