Cleaning Up at the End of the Season

Cleaning up your garden at the end of the season will not just save you time and effort for the next batch of crops, it will also help to keep your garden in good shape. If you’re having a hard time figuring out where to start, here are some suggestions for your end of the season clean-up:

Garden waste, leaves, and compost

The first thing that you can do for your end of the season garden cleanup is to pull out the spent vegetables and annuals. Make sure that you include the roots when you’re pulling them out. Together with any weeds, place them in a compost bin.

Aside from harvesting annual plants and vegetables, you can also rake fallen leaves. You can either throw them directly in the compost pile or spread them on your garden bed. Make sure to dig them deep into your soil so they stay on place. These leaves will help improve the fertility of your soil for the next gardening season. When these leaves have composted, they’ll make your spring planting a wonderful experience. You can also make compost out of grass clippings and yard trimmings.

Pick up the pots

When you’re done pulling out weeds and annual plants, go around the garden and look for any broken and empty pots. If there’s no way that those broken pots can be fixed, get rid of them. Empty pots can be stored in your greenhouse for the winter. You can use them to replant your roots for the next season. One benefit of removing these pots is to keep snails, slugs, and fungi away from your garden.

Get rid of diseased plant matter

Aside from disposing broken pots, also look out for signs of diseases on your plants. These include leaf spot, powdery mildew, and rust. If you spot these, remove the affected part and dispose them in a trash bin — do NOT put them in your compost bin. Although heat will eventually kill most of the plant’s diseases, some don’t give up easily. Placing diseased plant matter in your compost will only spread the disease in your garden.

Clean and store garden tools

Give your garden tools some TLC. After using them for months for tending your garden, clean and store them in a cool, dry place. Kill pathogens and possible diseases lurking on your garden tools by dipping the business end of these tools in a bleach solution (1 part bleach to 3 parts water). Sharpen the blades and then coat your tools with oil to get them ready for the next season. Store them in your garage, tool shed or any sheltered place.

Here are other things you can do at the end of the season:

·      Harvest everything from your vegetable garden. Don’t forget to remove dropped fruits from trees. If you let them stay where they are, they will rot and attract garden pests.
·      Clean up any overgrown trees. Animals might treat them as their home if you leave them as they are. When you do this, not only will be dealing with garden pests, you also have to deal with seed drop and more mess.