To Clean and Not To Clean

Right before this frost kicked in, we managed to tidy a bit around the garden. Tidy obviously being a relative term here. Long gone are the days that winter meant empty black beds waiting to be tended again in spring –admittedly, we have never experienced these days personally. But there are a few things to do and consider at the end of the more active gardening seasons.

First of all, the end of autumn is the time for cutting back those things that will grow out of control if you let them. Ideally, this is done after days have gotten quite a bit colder, when your trees and bushes have slowed down to start their hibernation period. But not while it is freezing and your pants are their most vulnerable.

After cutting, consider what you do with the cuttings. Surely, you can chop them up finely and toss them into your compost. But also consider leaving some (small) piles in the garden, to help provide shelter for lovely critters such as hedgehogs, as well as possibly less attractive but absolutely no less smashing creatures of the insect, arthropod, invertebrate and amphibian kind. They all add to a healthy garden eco-system, tidying up rotting leaves, creating humus, and feeding the bigger lifeforms such as birds in turn.

Likewise, don’t cut things that don’t need it. Leave seed pods that might not just look nice over winter but will also feed birds. Leave plants to provide food shelter and leave leaves where they fall rather than heaping them all up into one compost heap. All that hasn’t gone down over winter, may be cleaned up in spring, when temperatures are high enough for critters to come out of their winter shelter and for plants to start forming new food and hiding places.

While leaving the garden a bit messy, don’t forget to clean your shears, secateurs and pruners after use, to prevent rust which will shorten their lifespan. Also clean spades and shovels. This is the best time of year for relocating any plants that you think would do better in some other place next year, but even if you’re not using them just now, check if you left your spades clean last time you did, before storing them away in the shed for a longer period of neglect.

Consider how you want to clean your garden equipment. Preferably, you keep it all dry. I find that our own fan brush has a lovely shape to brush of just about anything. Bossman James has a thing for the coconut washing up brush, which arguably might get into curves more easily. It did get him into the cleaning bit so much he happily brushed out the pots he emptied before storing them away. I will leave to your discretion whether you do or not.

Lastly, if you are growing vegetables in your garden, pick out all fruits that might be left in the annual plants before tossing them onto the compost. Peppers and tomatoes can still ripen in the bowl if they’re not quite there when the plants start wilting.

James had a lovely lot of cucumelons this year. Their abundance called for pickling, but the recipe for that will have to follow in the next blog post. It could be used on other fruits and veg too, so be sure to get back here if you want to prolong some food-life in a really yummy way.