Everyone is Getting Ready for Winter
Every good gardener knows the vegetable garden needs a thorough cleaning at the end of the growing season. Getting rid of all vegetation and debris is very important to defeat garden pest eggs and disease. A clean garden bed protected with mulch or a cover crop enriches the soil for great veggies next year. However, in our flowerbeds and yards we don’t need to be so particular. We can help the bees, birds and insects by not being so tidy.
A little “messy spot” here and there provides food and habitat for many living creatures to get through the winter and early spring. The bees are now gathering critical pollen and nectar from the last flowers. Let those flowers bloom even if they are on a plant you consider a “weed.” These end of the year bee food forages will feed the hive all winter.
When plants finally go to seed it is important to keep them in place. Those seeds will help feed the birds all winter. Keep the stalks and leaves in place also. There may be insect eggs or a butterfly larva curled up in a chrysalis hidden on the stalk. Birds will use those emerging insects to feed their babies in the spring. We don’t need to know if it is a “good” bug or a “bad” bug. A healthy yard has a balance of living creatures. They will sort it out amongst themselves next year.
So let the plants stand and some leaf litter lay. Most perennials will survive the winter much better with the protection of snow caught in its last leaves. As they decompose, nutrients go back into the soil. Wait until April before spring-cleaning the yard to give the pollinators time to hatch. If you see an early flower in the yard, let it bloom to feed them. Until then, enjoy the beauty of seed heads and stalks sticking up in the snow. We will soon enjoy summer with the wildlife we helped to survive the winter.
Kelly Butauski
Kelly Butauski is a Cleveland Metroparks Certified Watershed Volunteer and a member of Friends of Euclid Creek.