Should You Clean Up Your Garden in Fall?

[@fiendeng]

Great Scott! advice : do anything and everything. But don't! 😁🤣

[@kevinbossick8374]

I must be doing something wrong, or something right. I am out there cleaning up something every weekend.

[@smack_dab]

Definitely the best gardening channel on TheTube.

[@heidiclark6612]

Good video. Like you I do not like to work in the cold. So fall clean up and amending of my raised bed is my choice ( After learning from you). It was so sad to see all my beautiful annual flowers all brown and dead. Pulling out slimy dead plants in spring is not fun.

[@Kathleen253]

Oh for a day off with no rain to do some gardening.

[@leynaabbey]

I feel this comment in my soul.

[@Punisher187u]

My Garden is still alive in the California Desert. I was going to start clearing out my tomatoes and upon inspection I see that they are flowering again. They are staying put for now. Chili peppers are also still flowering and producing. Fall plants are starting to sprout. I will never leave a garden bed empty. There are plants like buckwheat and red clover that can survive the cold and they will add nutrients to your soil. Do not stop planting but understand your climate. The soil will love you for it.

[@holyword6348]

True, a bunch of it is what you want to do. Some years I have injuries and aches and need a break in the fall, other years I can get ahead for the spring. My #1 thing for the fall is to cover the soil so weeds don't get started before I get back to the garden in the spring. I don't always get to do it, but when I do, it saves a lot of extra work in the spring. - Ken

[@GottabKD777]

I’m with you on the not wanting to work in the cold thing. I live in Alberta Canada and with over 2’ of snow already, hibernation has begun!

[@lar113]

Thank you for the advice. I do a combo of cleaning and let it wait for spring. I clean and dig in compost for my vegetable garden. For my flower beds, mostly wildflowers, I leave for spring. I call these wildflower beds my "Winter Gardens". I love to see the birds sitting on the stalks and eating the seeds. I live in 4b and get a lot of snow. I truly enjoy seeing a bright red Cardinal set against a white background while the Cardinal is eating from a flower stalk.

[@jeffcampbell479]

I always pull all my dead/dying plants out of all my beds a bit at a time once they are no longer producing anything. Some plants are definitely brown and dried up, while others are still green yet but useless. I place all of them right into my compost bins to overwinter. Works awesome for me! 😉👍

[@joslac5018]

Great video! I have a very small garden so I did all my clean up in fall and top the beds with crushed leaves. Garden: Thank you Gardner: Cya in 6 months!

[@EastxWestFarms]

I remember the cold days of cleaning up the garden from my childhood. Here in TX ist’s pretty much gardening all year round, maybe a few short breaks in the middle of summer and a week of frost in winter.

[@nolansherman9063]

I clean my mulch plants and flowers in the fall to have the dead ones gone before the new ones grow in the spring

[@johnjude2685]

I'll try your advice for my many hostas Thanks

[@NewMindGarden]

Wow.. Amazing sharing. Absolutely amazing

[@pamelamercer1124]

You've helped take the guilt away from not getting it ALL done. I'm done 5 also. And yes, one day it's 50 degrees and the next everything is covered in snow!

[@NashvilleMonkey1000]

Gardener Scott, I really like how you described this as separate gardening decisions to make, and that sometimes a standard, expected "part of gardening" can undo so much that already went into the garden, like pulling out things that would otherwise grow again from the spring onwards. A lot of "expert tips" just keep resetting the garden to a beginning state which keeps the gardener busy in many ways. You teach mature knowledge that guides us towards our goals of growing the plants that we like~

[@GardenerScott]

Thanks! I appreciate you recognizing that.

[@mommajscountrygardening]

I practice keeping garden clean. Confuses predators. However I clean, add soil and give nutrients... water in then cover with garden straw. My entire garden is covered with straw. Pretty and I liked the results this year from last year preps.

[@Jeff-rd6hb]

I do the same thing with my main veggie garden even though it's fenced from deer/rabbits/squirrels. I'm all cleaned up, amended & mulched, ready for Spring. 😊

[@justagirllookingup]

I have a hard time dealing with the cold too. I try to do what needs to get done but its no fun at all! :-)

[@roccoconte2960]

I always clean up in the fall turn my soil over and fertilizer , if for no other reason it gets done and i dont have to do it in the spring when i am busy seeding

[@pd6569]

MG Scott, thank you sir the balanced and detailed advice.

[@twentytwenty1968]

well said, I pretty much do the same, I never thought about the seeds being left for the birds, of which we have many, thanks for the tip

[@Wisconsincatmom]

I live in zone 4b. I wanted to get the garden cleaned up but then it got too cold. Then when it warmed up I got sick. Now that I am recovering, I am still trying to get tasks completed that need to be done.

[@aimeekitty]

Thanks for the thoughtful discussion!

[@customcutter100]

Just finished planting the last part of our fall/winter garden. Of course we are in zone 9b, finally got some cool weather this week with temps in the 60-80* ranges. I did clean out all of my squash that developed mosaic virus before making.

[@plantsoverpills1643]

Thanks G.S. You’ve helped me sort out when to clean what. I typically would prefer to get as much cleaned away in the fall so I don’t have to worry about breaking off new shoots or compacting soil in the spring. And I prefer to watch my garden come to life in the spring without the laborious chore of cleaning up first. I will leave the strawberries be and any plants that offer food or shelter for the birds and insects. The rest goes!! I followed your advice re the garden beds and they’re all amended and ready to plant for next year. And I’ve made mulching everything a priority including areas which id like to expand plants into next year. It’s a great feeling to know that the garden is organized!!!!👍🏻😉

[@beckysheetz4343]

Great video, Scott. I appreciate your expertise!

[@benthere8051]

I found out that peppers are perennials, so I am digging them up and moving them to the greenhouse. I'm in Dallas, so I still have time to transplant kale, chard, parsley, spinach, and others. I planted garlic and cilantro into the newly vacated areas of my garden.

[@NashvilleMonkey1000]

We found one new mantis egg foam this fall so far. During summer we made lots of garden spaces, and cleaned up a lot of areas that mantisses like to hide in. Hopefully there's a few more somewhere in the garden, like the asparagus. We have a lot of plants that will come back in the spring, and a lot of them are treated as annuals, but keeping them in makes the garden more resilient~ We just made one last new garden bed as it was still nice and warm, and in it went all the tomato stalks and pretty much anything else that would do well in hugelkultur~

[@jeffd6540]

Hi GS, Love the video.

[@dylnthmsn420]

Scott, I leave the annual greens up for the bunnies and they poop in my garden all winter

[@gabriellakadar]

...and they come back later and eat their poop. I observed a couple of years ago that they would deposit a lot of poops in the back corner but generally elsewhere as well. I thought, oh goodie, free manure. Uh uh. Two weeks later it was all gone. Rabbits recycle.

[@benthere8051]

I just took out my long bean vines yesterday. I really hated the see them go but they were completely dormant. They were wildly productive and I'm going to miss them. I only had about 20 vines but they were giving me a quart of really good beans every three days. I'm using the fallow ground for chard. So it pays to clean up and it gives the garden some new character.

[@DebRoo11]

I grew mine up an 8 foot chicken wire trellis. Wow it took forever to clean out. They wound all through the fence I had to remove the vines 4inches at a time. I won't make the same mistake next yr lol

[@benthere8051]

@@DebRoo11 - I grew mine along the south side of my house. I tied a cotton string to an "S" hook and hooked it to the rain gutter. I wrapped the bottom end around the vine three times. The vine's tendrils grabbed the string within hours and took off for the sky. When the vine got eight feet tall, I pruned off 8" of the growing tip and saved it for my salads - they are tender and delicious. Next year I'm going to plant three times as much and blanch and freeze what I can't eat (which is most). I can buy long beans from the Asian market but they are EXPENSIVE. I miss them very much already.

[@Lynda5876]

@Ben There I watched a video on freezing green beans without blanching. I grew Fortex this year & froze a large number of 8 oz bags with a food saver vacuum sealer. So far they have been delicious. And I loved skipping the blanching step!

[@benthere8051]

@@Lynda5876 - Blanching will destroy the enzymes that cause the beans to age. It will also preserve the color. If you are going to freeze them for extended intervals, I'd still blanch them. At any rate, enjoy them. I just tried a recipe for bacon-wrapped oven roasted beans and it was delicious. The long beans also make GREAT pickles.

[@Lynda5876]

Ben There I knew that about the beans but just thought I would do an experiment this year... ☺️. I have never tried pickling them. What a great idea! Thank you! And the recipe sounds good too. Will you share the name of the recipe so I can Google it?

[@DebRoo11]

I planted blackberry and raspberry canes this spring and trained them through the summer on a trellis. I've heard so much conflicting pruning strategies. I don't want to affect next year's berry production and do something wrong. Any insights on how to prepare things like roses, berry bushes, young fruit trees for winter? Do we wait till spring?

[@johnhpalmer6098]

Another reason to wait to clean are some plants like hearty Fuchsias for instance, Most recommend that you leave the plant alone and let it continue to bloom through fall and it'll gradually die off and go dormant (in my zone 8b anyway) and leave it be. Since we don't get much of the terrible frost/freezes, no need to cover with mulch either as it'll be fine. Then in late February, early March start looking for fresh green growth at the base and once you see that, usually in March, whack it all back (the old growth) and leave it be, water it every now and then when it needs it and it'll regrow into a lush plant, getting bigger each year. That's how I do it, take the laziefare way and it'll be fine. :-) I do periodically run the soaker hose in that bed as it also has Iris', Day Lilies, ornamental grasses etc as well, run it on a timer for 45 minutes to give everything a good soak as the days warm up and dry out but Otherwise, I may think to pull the dead stalks from the Day Lilies, the Daisies, etc and like this year I will split the Iris' when they need it, and they were desperate this year and were last done in 2017. BTW, never heard of the hearty Fuchsia until I bought my house in 2016 and it had the fuschia bush planted too close to the house, which I cut at the root below ground and moved it up about 6" or so to its present spot in 2017 and it's been thriving ever since.

[@GardenerScott]

Good info. Thanks for sharing.

[@HomesteadForALiving]

I just take a machete to anything that’s left after the last late harvests. Chop it up into free mulch!

[@leynaabbey]

It depends on the bed, and residing plants.

[@absolution00]

I also have a lot of leaves at my new place, too much for my compost pile, do you think I could leave them in garbage bags and they would decompose over the winter. Also great video by the way as always lots of great advice.

[@GardenerScott]

They will decompose but it may take longer than just one winter. I have a video coming soon that shows that as an option to make leaf mold. Thanks.

[@jeffcampbell479]

I too have a lot of leaves - I just bury my beds and walkway with them - definitely helps keep the weeds at bay!

[@jeffcampbell479]

@@GardenerScott - Even with sprayed water mixed throughout the leaves even?

[@GardenerScott]

Yeah, keeping them moist helps, but it can take up to a year for the leaves to fully decompose. Chop up the leaves to accelerate the process. Outside a bag it can take two years.

[@monicam.8006]

Dear G.S. Peace and thanks for the nice video. May I point out something? Trees should never be pruned when they have fruit on them. Some trees fruit in the spring, so they must be pruned in the autumn, and other trees fruit in the autumn so they must be pruned in the spring. The gardener doesn't get a chair. That's where I am with my trees. They're loaded!

[@GardenerScott]

It does depend on the tree variety. In my region the fruit trees we grow fruit in autumn and should be pruned when dormant, but for warmer areas with different trees autumn pruning may be appropriate.

[@stephenhope7319]

Still getting super sweet 100's and Juliette Romas in Sacramento. Picked over a 100 tomatoes 2 days ago. We are beyond first frost date but the the plants are dying.

[@ptypablo]

In the fall should wait for vegetable plants to be fully dried out before I cut them out? My tomatoes are dead, my peppers too. Only thing left alive are baby bok choy, carrots, broccoli and asparagus.

[@GardenerScott]

You don't need to wait until they dry. If they're past the point of harvest and you're ready to clean up the bed you can cut them out any time.

[@michaelmarchione3408]

Gardener Scott, I heard you mention Comfrey plants. Could you do a video on planting from seed and how to overwinter them? I've been thinking about planting seeds next spring. I'm in zone 4A. Good video thanks.

[@GardenerScott]

I am planning a video on comfrey next year. I've been filming my plants over this last season to show its growth and preparing for overwintering.

[@michaelmarchione3408]

@@GardenerScott GREAT!

[@NONAMESLEFTNONE]

Are there any real drawbacks to using community provided compost & mulch? I see bits of trash in the compost but I'm not planning on eating anything from my plot if I'm successful.

[@GardenerScott]

There are. You don't know the source of that material and could expose your garden to pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide residue. There may also be the possibility of introducing bacterial or fungal diseases. Those are great programs, but I suggest asking the managers about how they source the material. I get most of my wood chip mulch from a community program because they limit what materials can be used.

[@kamilfrancoolczak]

Do you have hedgehogs in Colorado ? When you showed the pile of that brush and wood I thought - that’s a good place for a hedgehog 🦔 to overwinter

[@GardenerScott]

We don't have hedgehogs, but I imagine it would be a good spot.

[@عبداللطيفالطيار]

Great advices thank you How much gypsum can I add to one cubic meter of soil??

[@GardenerScott]

It is hard to say without a soil test results. You should know your soil's pH and nutrient levels before adding large amounts of amendments.

[@عبداللطيفالطيار]

@@GardenerScott thank you My soil pH is 8.5

[@moshe1222]

I have a somewhat unusual "clean-up" challenge in the paths between my raised beds. Although I did my best when building the garden last summer the lawn around the perimeter of the garden is Bermuda grass. Even with a layer of corrugated cardboard on the soil, a layer of large grind mulch over the cardboard, and several days each week of pulling up whatever grass still came through, the grass is still winning. If there is one, what would be the best way to win this battle?

[@good-timeshomestead2183]

I have the same grass, tough to hold back. This year I rolled 6mill black plastic down and built the new raised beds over the top, and mulched between beds. I am amazed I had a couple weeds grow on top but so far the grass has not popped up. It was a test I did in part of the garden, Next year I am going to do another area and see what happens in year 2 before I go doing it all. Takes a couple days for the mulch to set in. It can be a little hard to walk on meaning it slides around on the plastic. Hills can make a challenge. Once mine locked in its been nice. Cheaper then weed cloth. I don't use it around my trees so I still have a problem with the grass around them. The plastic seems to only hold up around 3-4 months without something covering it. Under the mulch it looks to be still in good shape. Thought this might help. Good luck

[@moshe1222]

@@good-timeshomestead2183 Thanks for the idea. I've been considering that one, as well as trying another layer of corrugated cardboard and mulch. My disadvantage vs. your set-up is that all of my beds, over a layer of weed cloth, were in place before I did any "cover up". So not only does the Bermuda grass come up in the paths, the most headstrong rhizomes find their way under the edges of the beds then up in the middle of my vegetable plantings. So I'll fight the good fight and see what happens.

[@GardenerScott]

Bermuda grass and similar plants that spread by root growth can be tough to kill. The one, best way is to use herbicides. Otherwise, it's a lot of mulching, digging, and pulling.

[@ttb1513]

@@moshe1222 I wonder if you would have to put some 6" or so edging at the desired boundary to prevent new roots from invading (tho you would still have to eliminate what already exists past the boundary). Good luck.

[@mashal8915]

I currently grow in grow bags,my question would be would trifecta+,worm casting be considered as a way to amend your soil and would I add trifecta + and worm casting to my existing mix of potting mix and mushroom compost now or in the spring.

[@GardenerScott]

Yes, you can add that to your existing mix. Early spring is the time I usually amend my containers. The nitrogen in the fertilizer is present as the compost begins to decompose to enrich the soil. I usually plant about a month after amending my containers.

[@tikicamunas8786]

Our season is different.

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[@doublelhomestead7774]

Hey Scott I know this is off topic but I did your stock tank raised bed idea and wanted to ask is worms good in a raised bed? My beds are on concrete blocks about 2 ft off the ground so they would be permanent residents. My beds are filled with mostly pine wood pellets that look almost like sand because they was made that way and thought worms would make into compost. Thank you in advance

[@GardenerScott]

Worms are great for raised beds. They probably won't survive most winters in beds off the ground because they can't burrow for protection.

[@doublelhomestead7774]

@@GardenerScott if I decide no worms the wood pellet will end up decomposing? Because that’s what I want is nice rich soil and the wood pellets are pretty much dust anyway they are for a pellet stove

[@galacticshield]

How do you make leaf mold?

[@GardenerScott]

That video is coming soon. It's basically collecting a large amount of leaves to decompose slowly.

[@galacticshield]

@@GardenerScott Good! Looking forward to it. Your videos have been helpful and reassuring.

[@benthere8051]

I have tried to contact the companies that remove leaves from yards to see if I could buy what they collect. From what I've seen on the KZbin videos, they collect, shred, and remove dozens of cubic yards of powdered leaves at a time. But all the replies I get from those services won't sell them, and some describe tricks they use to take them to the dump for free. What a waste!