WHO KNEW Putting the Garden to Bed Is an Alternative to Doing Nothing?

Doing nothing and just leaving everything till spring is a great concept but it does not work for me for several reasons. I believe we all should do what works for us, realizing that our feathered friends will appreciate all the food we do leave for them.

1) In my front garden I have hundreds of spring bulbs. Unless I clear this year’s plant debris in the fall, I can’t get to it in the spring before the bulbs come up which makes it impossible to enjoy the bulbs.

2) In my lower garden where the water table is very high, it is difficult to do clean-up in the spring, so I remove some plant debris in the fall leaving any plants and their seed heads that come up later in the spring, until the ground has dried out.

3) As I am now in my eighties, I find it easier to spread the work out and not leave it all to the spring. I work better in the cooler days of the fall. I also enjoy the winter more knowing I have completed much of the clean-up.

4) Leaves are tucked around plants, composted, used as mulch on my vegetable beds, never just thrown away. All plant matter is composted, then used in the garden.

Does this leave the birds and other wildlife without sustenance? I think not.

Hundreds of native shrubs, trees and plants make up the majority of our 1/2 acre. A huge variety of birds are present all year round, providing me with endless joy. Something is in bloom from late February to late November, visited by insects and other wildlife. Over the winter months, berries, crabapples, acorns, etc are present, as well as the remaining perennial seed-heads.

I love my garden, in all its seasons.

[Susan lives adjacent to the Ray School in Hanover where she maintains a certified Wild Life Habitat. She is a member of the Hanover Garden Club, the Lyme Gardeners and a member of the Sustainable Park committee in downtown Hanover.]