Five lessons for fall garden clean up

Pansies bloom even after a frost

Our days before the first frost are numbered here in Indianapolis.  Over the last six or seven years, I’ve noted in my garden journal that our first frost has occurred as early as October 3rd and as late as October 29th. Most sources give October 20th as the average date for a first frost in central Indiana.

We are clearly getting close to the first frost, the official end of the growing season.   Soon we’ll be reciting the famous words of the Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley, “When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!”

And we will begin in earnest cleaning up our gardens.

There are many lists available on what to do in the garden for fall clean up, in both online resources and many general gardening books. They tell us to harvest, clean up, mulch, put away, and even plant.   To supplement those lists, here are five lessons on garden clean up from my own experience

1. Find the  pace and rhythm for your garden.  Remember that many lists of what to do in the garden are general in nature, and the timing may not fit your garden.
2. Don’t try to get all the clean up done at once. As your garden grows, it is likely that what once took a day, may now take several days or longer.
3. Keep your own garden journal and records, unique to your garden. Sometimes the information you record is useless; other times, it’s a good reminder of what works in your garden and when you generally do most tasks.
4. Relax and enjoy the fall season. Enjoy the process of garden clean up, the process of creating that clean slate for next year’s garden.
5. Don’t clean up the garden too soon, or you’ll miss late bloomers and rebloomers, and the activity of the birds and bees among the flowers.