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While tidying up your vegetable garden after the season is a must to prevent pests and diseases from being perpetuated, there are also gardening tasks in the rest of your yard that you can skip or should delay until spring.
Gardening experts explain which fall and winter gardening tasks you should delete from your to-do list and why skipping them is not only easier for you but also better for your plants, wildlife, and soil health.
Meet the Expert
- Rachel Mackow is the co-owner and founder of Wild Ridge Plants in Alpha, New Jersey.
- Tabar L. Gifford is a customer experience and partnership cultivator at High Country Gardens in Utah.
Don’t Cut Back Grasses and Perennials
Moskvich19771977 / Getty Images
Rachel Mackow, the co-founder of Wild Ridge Plants, explains how most people don’t need to do anything when it comes to handling dormant grass and flower stems. It’s better to leave these grasses and herbaceous perennials alone.
Food for Wildlife
“The stems of grasses and flowers serve many purposes. Birds such as chickadees and sparrows will forage for seeds throughout the winter.” Mackow explains.
If you take the time to observe what’s going on in your yard during the winter, you’ll see numerous other birds flocking to your plants to eat the seeds.
Shelter for Wildlife
The dead and dormant plants also provide shelter for wildlife and beneficial insects. Mackow points out that hollow-stemmed plants can serve as overwintering and nesting grounds for native pollinators. Tabar Gifford, a partnership cultivator from High Country Gardens, explains how birds often utilize the grasses for shelter.
Wait to cut down the plants until after the insects have emerged in the spring.
Insulation
In addition to providing an overwintering space for native bees and other beneficial insects, not chopping perennials down to the ground has another vital purpose.
“The dead stems act as insulation for the plant’s crown, improving its hardiness,” Gifford explains.
Beauty
Leaving plants standing is also a boon for the human eye—it adds winter interest to an otherwise bare and drab-looking landscape.
“Ornamental grasses add beauty to the winter garden, with their seed heads catching the low-angle sunlight,” Gifford says.
For Mackow, favorites that stand out as winter beauties are: little blueste () with its coppery stems, native mints ( spp.) with their grayish-rich browns, and also wild bergamot ().
Hold Off on Pruning Shrubs
While winter is generally a good time to prune trees and shrubs, it does not apply to all shrubs.
“Pruning spring-flowering shrubs such as lilac and forsythia, which bloom on venerable wood, removes the flower buds,” Gifford warns. “Wait until these shrubs finish blooming in spring to trim them, otherwise you’ll reduce the bloom.”
Don’t Remove the Leaves
Other than removing fallen leaves that smother your lawn, don’t waste your time and energy removing leaves.
“Leaves are nature’s mulch,” Gifford says. “They decompose over time, enriching the soil with nutrients.”
Gifford explains how a layer of leaves protects garden beds from freezing temperatures during the winter and moisture loss. Gifford also points to the role that leaves play for invertebrates since insects like butterflies and moths overwinter in fallen leaves.
Don’t Use Herbicides
If you are battling invasive plants in your yard, winter is a good time to clear overgrown areas. However, the cut stump method, where you apply a broad-spectrum herbicide such as glyphosate immediately after cutting to prevent the invasive plant from growing back, does not work in temperatures below 40°F.
The best way is not to cut the stem all the way and come back in the spring when temperatures are between 60 and 75°F to cut the remaining stems and treat them with herbicide.
Delay Soil Tests
If your soil is overdue for a soil test, it might be tempting to tackle this task during the off-season when you have more time than in the busy spring.
However, taking soil samples during the winter when the soil is frozen is not a good idea. The sample must contain soil from different spots in the area you want to get tested. If the soil is icy and chunky, you won’t be able to mix it up properly, so you won’t get a good sample.
Thawing the soil manually instead of letting it thaw on its own could trigger microbial activity, which could lead to inexact test results.
,summary should tell what is discussed or gonna be discussed in article and give heading to this section “Introduction”. please dont add any introductory text or any instruction because this introduction paragraph is directly getting published in article i dont want it to look like copy paste or AI generated
While tidying up your vegetable garden after the season is a must to prevent pests and diseases from being perpetuated, there are also gardening tasks in the rest of your yard that you can skip or should delay until spring.
Gardening experts explain which fall and winter gardening tasks you should delete from your to-do list and why skipping them is not only easier for you but also better for your plants, wildlife, and soil health.
Meet the Expert
- Rachel Mackow is the co-owner and founder of Wild Ridge Plants in Alpha, New Jersey.
- Tabar L. Gifford is a customer experience and partnership cultivator at High Country Gardens in Utah.
Don’t Cut Back Grasses and Perennials
Moskvich19771977 / Getty Images
Rachel Mackow, the co-founder of Wild Ridge Plants, explains how most people don’t need to do anything when it comes to handling dormant grass and flower stems. It’s better to leave these grasses and herbaceous perennials alone.
Food for Wildlife
“The stems of grasses and flowers serve many purposes. Birds such as chickadees and sparrows will forage for seeds throughout the winter.” Mackow explains.
If you take the time to observe what’s going on in your yard during the winter, you’ll see numerous other birds flocking to your plants to eat the seeds.
Shelter for Wildlife
The dead and dormant plants also provide shelter for wildlife and beneficial insects. Mackow points out that hollow-stemmed plants can serve as overwintering and nesting grounds for native pollinators. Tabar Gifford, a partnership cultivator from High Country Gardens, explains how birds often utilize the grasses for shelter.
Wait to cut down the plants until after the insects have emerged in the spring.
Insulation
In addition to providing an overwintering space for native bees and other beneficial insects, not chopping perennials down to the ground has another vital purpose.
“The dead stems act as insulation for the plant’s crown, improving its hardiness,” Gifford explains.
Beauty
Leaving plants standing is also a boon for the human eye—it adds winter interest to an otherwise bare and drab-looking landscape.
“Ornamental grasses add beauty to the winter garden, with their seed heads catching the low-angle sunlight,” Gifford says.
For Mackow, favorites that stand out as winter beauties are: little blueste () with its coppery stems, native mints ( spp.) with their grayish-rich browns, and also wild bergamot ().
Hold Off on Pruning Shrubs
While winter is generally a good time to prune trees and shrubs, it does not apply to all shrubs.
“Pruning spring-flowering shrubs such as lilac and forsythia, which bloom on venerable wood, removes the flower buds,” Gifford warns. “Wait until these shrubs finish blooming in spring to trim them, otherwise you’ll reduce the bloom.”
Don’t Remove the Leaves
Other than removing fallen leaves that smother your lawn, don’t waste your time and energy removing leaves.
“Leaves are nature’s mulch,” Gifford says. “They decompose over time, enriching the soil with nutrients.”
Gifford explains how a layer of leaves protects garden beds from freezing temperatures during the winter and moisture loss. Gifford also points to the role that leaves play for invertebrates since insects like butterflies and moths overwinter in fallen leaves.
Don’t Use Herbicides
If you are battling invasive plants in your yard, winter is a good time to clear overgrown areas. However, the cut stump method, where you apply a broad-spectrum herbicide such as glyphosate immediately after cutting to prevent the invasive plant from growing back, does not work in temperatures below 40°F.
The best way is not to cut the stem all the way and come back in the spring when temperatures are between 60 and 75°F to cut the remaining stems and treat them with herbicide.
Delay Soil Tests
If your soil is overdue for a soil test, it might be tempting to tackle this task during the off-season when you have more time than in the busy spring.
However, taking soil samples during the winter when the soil is frozen is not a good idea. The sample must contain soil from different spots in the area you want to get tested. If the soil is icy and chunky, you won’t be able to mix it up properly, so you won’t get a good sample.
Thawing the soil manually instead of letting it thaw on its own could trigger microbial activity, which could lead to inexact test results.
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While tidying up your vegetable garden after the season is a must to prevent pests and diseases from being perpetuated, there are also gardening tasks in the rest of your yard that you can skip or should delay until spring.
Gardening experts explain which fall and winter gardening tasks you should delete from your to-do list and why skipping them is not only easier for you but also better for your plants, wildlife, and soil health.
Meet the Expert
- Rachel Mackow is the co-owner and founder of Wild Ridge Plants in Alpha, New Jersey.
- Tabar L. Gifford is a customer experience and partnership cultivator at High Country Gardens in Utah.
Don’t Cut Back Grasses and Perennials
Moskvich19771977 / Getty Images
Rachel Mackow, the co-founder of Wild Ridge Plants, explains how most people don’t need to do anything when it comes to handling dormant grass and flower stems. It’s better to leave these grasses and herbaceous perennials alone.
Food for Wildlife
“The stems of grasses and flowers serve many purposes. Birds such as chickadees and sparrows will forage for seeds throughout the winter.” Mackow explains.
If you take the time to observe what’s going on in your yard during the winter, you’ll see numerous other birds flocking to your plants to eat the seeds.
Shelter for Wildlife
The dead and dormant plants also provide shelter for wildlife and beneficial insects. Mackow points out that hollow-stemmed plants can serve as overwintering and nesting grounds for native pollinators. Tabar Gifford, a partnership cultivator from High Country Gardens, explains how birds often utilize the grasses for shelter.
Wait to cut down the plants until after the insects have emerged in the spring.
Insulation
In addition to providing an overwintering space for native bees and other beneficial insects, not chopping perennials down to the ground has another vital purpose.
“The dead stems act as insulation for the plant’s crown, improving its hardiness,” Gifford explains.
Beauty
Leaving plants standing is also a boon for the human eye—it adds winter interest to an otherwise bare and drab-looking landscape.
“Ornamental grasses add beauty to the winter garden, with their seed heads catching the low-angle sunlight,” Gifford says.
For Mackow, favorites that stand out as winter beauties are: little blueste () with its coppery stems, native mints ( spp.) with their grayish-rich browns, and also wild bergamot ().
Hold Off on Pruning Shrubs
While winter is generally a good time to prune trees and shrubs, it does not apply to all shrubs.
“Pruning spring-flowering shrubs such as lilac and forsythia, which bloom on venerable wood, removes the flower buds,” Gifford warns. “Wait until these shrubs finish blooming in spring to trim them, otherwise you’ll reduce the bloom.”
Don’t Remove the Leaves
Other than removing fallen leaves that smother your lawn, don’t waste your time and energy removing leaves.
“Leaves are nature’s mulch,” Gifford says. “They decompose over time, enriching the soil with nutrients.”
Gifford explains how a layer of leaves protects garden beds from freezing temperatures during the winter and moisture loss. Gifford also points to the role that leaves play for invertebrates since insects like butterflies and moths overwinter in fallen leaves.
Don’t Use Herbicides
If you are battling invasive plants in your yard, winter is a good time to clear overgrown areas. However, the cut stump method, where you apply a broad-spectrum herbicide such as glyphosate immediately after cutting to prevent the invasive plant from growing back, does not work in temperatures below 40°F.
The best way is not to cut the stem all the way and come back in the spring when temperatures are between 60 and 75°F to cut the remaining stems and treat them with herbicide.
Delay Soil Tests
If your soil is overdue for a soil test, it might be tempting to tackle this task during the off-season when you have more time than in the busy spring.
However, taking soil samples during the winter when the soil is frozen is not a good idea. The sample must contain soil from different spots in the area you want to get tested. If the soil is icy and chunky, you won’t be able to mix it up properly, so you won’t get a good sample.
Thawing the soil manually instead of letting it thaw on its own could trigger microbial activity, which could lead to inexact test results.
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