Easy 5 Step Fall Garden Clean Up for Gardeners in New England
The cool weather has rolled in, and your plants are dead or well on their way- it’s time to close the garden for the season.
But where do you begin? Follow these 5 easy steps below for a quick fall garden clean up.
What you’ll need:
A compost bin, barrel, or bag
Composed manure (optional)
A rake or trowel
Leaves (excluding pine needles) or weed seed free hay mulch
Easy 5 Step Fall Garden Clean Up
Chop your crops at soil level. Using a pair of bypass pruning shears (I use these shears), cut all of your plants at the base of their main stem, leaving the roots in the ground to avoid disrupting the lovely living layers of soil. remove any weeds, trellises, stakes, garden signs, or other structures you’d like to store out of the elements for the winter.
Remove all plant material, placing insect and disease free plants into compost. Anything that is infested with non-beneficial insects (like cabbage worms or squash bugs) or showing signs of disease is better going in a burn pile or out with your garbage.
If you use manure, this is the best time to add it to your garden so it has adequate time to break down prior to spring planting. Spread manure over the surface and incorporate it into the top layers of the soil using a rake or trowel.
Alternatively, you can skip this step and in the spring add a specialized blend of amendments according to your soil test results- you can book soil testing with us by emailing Sully. We can take samples well into the fall, anytime before the ground freezes.
4. Add a thick layer of leaves or hay as mulch to protect the soil from weather and erosion. Take extra care to “tuck in” perennials like strawberries, or annuals you plan to overwinter (like after planting garlic later this fall). The leaves you rake in your yard work well for this, just try your best to avoid pine needles as they can make your soil acidic.
5. Pour yourself a cup of tea (or coffee, or cocoa, or whatever you drink) and pull out your seed catalogs. Your work here is done for the season. Time to start dreaming and shopping for next year’s garden.