(When) do you clear away 2005's old growth ?

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(When) do you clear away 2005's old growth ?

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gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 1:00 pm Post subject: (When) do you clear away 2005's old growth ?

Differing schools of thought on this question.
Related to flower gardens / borders, also shrub areas, wild or rough land, and round trees in wood / orchards. And pruning plants / trees.

Do you leave the old, dead growth till spring to serve as shelter / food for wildlife, but then have to clear / weed / dig everything at once, including veg beds ?

Or do you do a bit at a time, throughout the winter months ? In any particular order ?

Or is your garden neat and tidy - you clear old/dead plants as soon as they have flowered / seeded, on the grounds that they provide a breeding ground for pests and diseases ?

How do others tackle this ?

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 1:17 pm Post subject:

My usual plan is that as everything dies off in autumn it gets cleared, cut back and composted to prevent it harbouring any diseases. At the same time as greenhouse plants die back they are cleared and the free space is used to overwinter any live but tender plants. For the veg patch as autumn plants are harvested the ground is dug over with comnpost / manure / whatever added and left for winter to do its stuff so it's ready in spring. Meanwhile in woods, where needed dead growth is cut back so that the new growth can be a bit more orderly. I've never been a fan of leaving dead vegetation in place for the wildlife other than in woods where I don't want access.

Of course you will notice the use of the word "plan" in that.

In practice what happens is that in autumn everything gets abandoned because it's too wet, too cold, too dark etc. Then when we get to spring I berate myself for being too inefficient.

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 1:23 pm Post subject:
I try to leave it to rot back as much as possible unless it is diseased or infested. Its easier, more natural and does not seem to do much harm.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 1:25 pm Post subject:
I usually leave pruning till spring, the stuff that I prune in winter I just leave where it lays until spring or if there's loads I'll pile it up in a corner somewhere.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 1:40 pm Post subject:

I tend to trim trees (except stone fruit), and prune shrubs, hedges in Jan/Feb, and clear the biggest stuff out of the rough grazing / wild areas around then, too.

But the rest is always weather [like JB]/ time dependent. I start out with good intentions, but it never quite happens, and I adopt the same approach as Bernie66.

Veg beds are a different matter - they do need to be kept clear (at all times) of dead / diseased plant material that can shelter pests.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 1:51 pm Post subject:

Mine isn't neat and tidy, even when I've got crops in it

It all depends, really. Some my allotment has green manure crops on it (about a quarter of it), half of it has crops on it (I've multi-cropped quite happily this year, so I'm still harvesting a lot, and there's the permanent fixtures like rhubarb, rasps, currants, globe artichokes, and of course the over-wintering cabbages, onions, garlic, broccoli, swedes, kohl rabi etc.), and the other quarter is variousy messy (ded runner beans and suchlike) and dug over (like where the squashes, courgettes and sweetcorn were).

I'm not a digging nazi, but it'll all get done over winter. Eventually. And the bits that are cropping into Spring will be dealt with after that.

Rasps got cut back a month ago. Other fruit bushes also cut back when I was putting some others in (thanks Nettie!). Asparagus in the garden is still green and lush; I know the books say cut it back, but they also say it should die back

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 2:34 pm Post subject:

JB wrote:

In practice what happens is that in autumn everything gets abandoned because it's too wet, too cold, too dark etc. Then when we get to spring I berate myself for being too inefficient.

That's what I do too.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 5:43 pm Post subject:
Bloody hell you guys! I thought we were allowed 6 months off until spring I better go get me wellies back on then

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 5:51 pm Post subject:
I thought this was another thread about hair removal

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 6:34 pm Post subject:
When i want to put something else in in april! My garden is a mess, and defies any attempts to be made otherwise. presumably its good for wildlife. Must track down some carpet for the veg beds sometime.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 05 8:32 pm Post subject:

It depends for us. Seed heads I try and leave as long as possible for the birds to eat. It's great when a little flock finches settles on the stalks to eat.

Things like asparagus ferns get cut down when they go brown and I lay them over the crowns to insulate them a little. I cut them down to stop the crowns from being rocked in the wind.

I try and give the apples a winter prune when the leaves are all gone.

Everything else gets cut back in spring.

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