Give it a Rest

With warmer days comes the urge to tidy up the garden. Resist that urge for now. You will be doing your garden friends a big favor. “While monarchs and some species of birds fly south for the winter, most of our pollinators and other wildlife will stick around, often in plant debris,” explains Horticulture Educator Ken Johnson. “Many species of moths and butterflies, like the mourning cloak butterflies, swallowtails, and luna moths, will overwinter in leaves. Bumblebee queens may also utilize leaves to overwinter. Others, like leafcutter and mason bees may use old flower stalks as nests where their offspring will overwinter.” If you decided to leave the leaves in fall to provide winter shelter for pollinators and other creatures, keep leaving them for a while (along with the stems of last year’s plants), and give these important minibeasts a chance to wake up on their own schedule.

As to when it is safe to begin garden cleanups, a common rule of thumb is to wait until it has been above 50 degrees for at least 7 consecutive days. This tends to occur sometime in May in my Framingham, Massachusetts garden. Adopting this strategy will allow pollinators and other animals to emerge at a time when their natural food sources are available, optimizing their chances of survival.

Another bonus of leaving the leaves in Spring is that they will decompose into a healthy, free mulch for your soil. Saying yes to the mess has its benefits.

Sources:

Keriann Dubina, “Slow Down on Spring Cleaning in Your Garden,” Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (www.dupageforest.org)

Ken Johnson, “When Should I Start Cleaning Up My Garden?” Illinois Extension, University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences (https://extension.illinois.edu)