In the Garden
Ralph Purkhiser, Purdue University Master Gardener
This past week, beautiful weather made for near-perfect gardening conditions. At Sandhill Gardens, we received enough rain to soften the soils, giving good conditions for planting shrubs and perennials that I bought at the fall clearance sales. However, I admit that a lot of the time I spent in the garden this week was just enjoying the beautiful weather and marveling at the flowers still blooming as the calendar turns to November. The foliage in the garden and in the woods over the cliff has also been spectacular. This is a bit of a surprise, as I was bracing for a season without great fall color, due to the drought conditions. Leaves have been falling, but some pretty foliage remains. Still, there have been some disappointments in my garden walks. I have had some young trees attacked by deer, including two of my pagoda dogwood trees. I am just hoping they will grow back from the roots.
There is a lot of controversy concerning cleaning up the garden in the fall. On one hand, insect pests and fungal diseases may over-winter in the spent plant material. On the other hand, that same dead plant material provides protection for beneficial insects, including pollinators. Seed heads also provide food for birds and other animals. What’s a gardener to do?
I would not presume to answer that for you. You have to decide what works best for you and your garden. My personal solution is a mixture of clearing and leaving old growth. I clear almost everything in the vegetable garden and plant some type of cover crop in the raised beds. If there has been any disease, I put the plant material in the burn pile and wait until we have some wet weather to safely burn it. Otherwise, I shred the material and put it in the composter. Since I like to decorate the garden for Christmas, I try to clear out most of the dead material from the garden areas near the house. I will cut off seed heads and put them either in the meadow or in an area at the edge of the woods. The stems will go to an area near the woods. In the spring, after temperatures climb back into the fifties, I will run them through a shredder and use the debris for mulch.
Elsewhere, I will leave perennials and grasses standing. The meadow will provide food and shelter for many creatures through the winter months. The ornamental grasses will also provide winter interest. The seed heads sparkle when there is frost on them and the sun hits them in the morning. The larger clumps also look nice with snow on them, and the movement of the stalks in the wind provides visual interest and also the sound of rustling grass. All of these will be cut in the spring when the clumps begin to grow again.
Bulb planting continues at Sandhill Gardens. I had to buy a new cordless drill to use the bulb auger. That gadget makes bulb planting much easier. I was given several bulbs this week and also found some on clearance sales. There is still plenty of time for planting bulbs in southern Indiana. I have planted on January 1 and got flowers that next spring. Watch for sales on bulbs. As long as they are firm, they should grow. You will reap the rewards next spring.