‘Falling’ for Gardening

Now you can leave that ‘fall cleanup’ of the past and continue planting through the season

By Linda Quinlan

As you contemplate your garden this fall and think about all the cleanup work that is ahead, here’s good news: leave it until spring.

A lot of people like to get their gardens neat and tidy, said Marci Muller, horticulture team leader for Monroe County Cooperative Extension, “but the recommendation now is not to do fall cleanup as you may have done in the past.”

Muller explained that not doing fall cleanup is providing shelter to beneficial insects and is seen as better for the environment.

“Generally speaking, just let it [your gardens] go through the winter,” Muller said, noting that includes the leaves, which she recommends mulching and putting in the garden or mulched and left on the lawn.

Instead, have more fun with your garden.

“Fall is my favorite time to plant anything,” Muller said. “In the spring, the weather can go from quite cool and rainy to hot and dry … that puts plants in stress. And in the fall, weeds are not as active.”

She recommends planting perennials in the fall, but cautions, “Plant them the earlier in the fall the better, so the roots can get established.”

Anything you plant should also be mulched, too, to protect them through the winter months.

“But don’t be fooled by the cooling temperatures,” added Jane Grant, a trained master gardener through Cooperative Extension. “Your plants will still need water.”

She recommended getting an inexpensive rain gauge to try to keep track of how much water plants are getting from nature.

“You have to know your soil, too,” said Grant, who describes herself as an octogenarian. “We [in many parts of Monroe County] live on the banks of ancient Lake Ontario and our soil is very sandy. You’ve got to water all the time.”

Fall is also the best time to plant bulbs, from tulips and daffodils to alliums, Grant said. She added that her garden also has some “eye popping” plants like acanthus, known as Bear’s Breeches and Bells of Ireland.

The two have a wealth of knowledge about gardening at any time of year. Muller, who resides in East Bloomfield, has been at Cooperative Extension for four and a half years, but also owned two different landscape companies in the past and worked for a nonprofit that taught its clients about horticulture. She formerly was on the board of the local organization, now based on St. Paul Boulevard in Irondequoit.

Monroe County is considered an urban and suburban area, so it provides research-based educational programming on a variety of topics, including agriculture, horticulture, natural resources, nutrition and 4-H youth programming.

They have a diagnostic clinic for pest issues. They are a stand-alone nonprofit, but are aligned with Cornell University, Muller explained.

They say the benefits of gardening, whether flowers or fruits and vegetables, are many.

“Gardening benefits your physical health because you’re moving, and getting fresh air,” Muller said. “Plus, it’s somehow cathartic to get your hands in the soil. And if you’re pulling weeds, it’s a great time for reflection.”

Besides poring over seed catalogs in the winter, Grant also recommends enrolling in a yoga class to keep in shape for gardening.

Another benefit of gardening if you’re growing food and especially if you don’t use chemicals, “you know exactly what you’re getting … and maybe you’re eating a few more vegetables,” Muller added.

Speaking of vegetables, fall is not too late to plant. “In September, you can still plant quick turnaround vegetables like radishes and any salad greens: lettuce, spinach, chard, beet greens, etc.,” Muller said.

The traditional time to plant garlic is also after the first full moon after the first frost, she said. It stays in the ground until mid-July the following year, when it is harvested.

If onions, potatoes and carrots are planted by late summer, they can also withstand a couple of frosts, Muller said, “but you have to give them time to develop (before a frost). September would be too late to plant them.”

“One thing about gardening, though,” Muller added. “If you don’t experiment, then what’s the point?”

When it comes to gardening as people age, Muller recommends “adaptive” gardening like raised beds and having a kneeling bench with handles, for help with getting up.

Grant also recommends always having a cell phone or what she calls “a magic watch” nearby when out in your gardens. “I had a neighbor who fell down a hill and she was there quite awhile before someone found her.”

Grant even upcycles old jeans by stuffing them with foam for kneeling pads and uses the pockets to make bags to hold her cell phone, should she need it.

She plants mostly flowers, Grant said, but also specializes in berries — raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. She turns them into jam which she packages and has been selling at Green Acre Farm in Greece for around 35 years. She’s beginning to downsize a bit, though, and may produce only about 100 to 150 jars of jam this year. Some years, she has made up to 250 jars of jam.

Of course, all this talk about planting in fall and not doing that fall cleanup does mean more work in the spring, the two agree, but then there’s that eagerness to get your hands back into the soil after a long winter.

“Some research has shown there’s something in the soil that affects the dopamine in your brain and helps your mood and sense of well being, too,” Grant said. “You just feel better when you garden.”