LH 116: Don’t Do Fall Garden Clean Up!

Did you know you should NOT do a fall garden clean up?

It sounds counter-intuitive, right?

I mean, plants have died back or gone dormant and winter’s coming. So, why wouldn’t we want to clear out the debris and tidy up?

Well if you’re an organic gardener, fall clean up is the last thing you should do because all the beneficial insects are overwintering in that debris.

From native bees to ladybugs, the fall garden provides shelter and more.

In today’s episode, I bring on author Jessica Walliser to give us the whole scoop on why traditional fall clean up is a thing of the past and what we should be doing instead.

Jessica also answers a listener question about trap cropping.

You will learn:

• Why our fall garden is so important for butterflies
• What you should do instead of clean up
• How to handle plants going to seed
• Why this actually makes your life easier
• What is trap cropping and is it really effective
• The simple trick to finding university garden research online

Jessica Walliser:

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser co-hosts The Organic Gardeners, an award-winning program on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a former contributing editor for Organic Gardening magazine and a regular contributor to Fine Gardening, Urban Farm, and Hobby Farms magazines. Jessica also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of The American Horticultural Society.

Her two weekly gardening columns for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review have been enjoyed by readers for over ten years. Jessica’s fourth book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to the Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control, was awarded the American Horticultural Society’s 2014 Book Award.

She is also the author of the Amazon best-seller Good Bug, Bad Bug: Who’s Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically and Container Gardening Complete: Creative Projects for Growing Vegetables and Flowers in Small Spaces. In addition, Jessica blogs weekly for both SavvyGardening.com and HobbyFarms.com.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden * – Jessica’s book

Avoiding Fall Clean Up – Jessica’s articles goes deeper than this podcast!

Growing a Caterpillar Garden – Jessica’s article

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden – Episode #88

Transcript:

Click here for the full transcript for Episode #116

*denotes an affiliate link