No matter where you fall on the issue of fall garden cleanup, you have to appreciate a recent tweet by Benjamin Vogt. He's a poet, gardener and author of Sleep, Creep, Leap which recounts his adventures in prairie gardening on his Nebraska plot...
"Just prepped my garden for winter by glancing out the office window and sighing. Seriously why do people do fall clean-up? Nature doesn't."
I guess I fall somewhere close to this 140-characters or less, garden-maintenance manifesto. I don't do much. But I do a little.
I would venture that fall cleanup routines are dependent upon gardening styles, weather and peer pressure. The more naturalistic setting can get away with less. While manicured and groomed gardens, like women of the same sort, demand more intense seasonal intervention.
Of course, those of us up north know that just like a striking poncho, good snow cover can hide a multitude of sins.
Raking leaves in the crisp autumn air is as much psychological marker as seasonal chore. In neighborhoods where pride of place is present, it's just what you do. I've been known to rearrange the leaves to cover the beds for what's known as "lazy (wo)man's mulch". However leaves can get matted and deprive the soil of moisture and they create unhealthy conditions when left on the lawn.
It's probably most important to remove leaves and other dead material from plants and trees suffering with any fungal issues. Disposing of that debris will help stop the cycle reinfection from year to year. Keep it out the compost too.
Leaving some debris provides beneficial insects and other animals overwintering sites. However it gives all insects, some undesirable, a place too. There's never an easy answer.
