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Toil and Trouble - Spring Garden Clean-up Time

© Carol Wallace

If your grasses are isolated enough that they won't pose a hazard to the surrounding structures and vegetation you can burn the old foliage. If not, the best way to tackle this job is to tie a rope or string around the middle of the old foliage and then use a chain saw or whatever cutting implement you have handy to make your cut below that. Then you have fairly neat bundles to haul to the compost heap. And if you have only one or two specimens that aren't too huge, you may be able to deal with them using ordinary scissors - although to me that seems like you're just asking for a case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Raking
Another springtime task for me is to rake out the lambs' ears (Stachys byzantina). Much of last year's growth is now brown and shriveled and ugly. But it comes away pretty easily if you go at them with a sturdy rake. This lets you see how much it has grown - and you will probably want to remove half or more of it - unless you don't care to have anything else in that garden.

That done, you can look at the bed you have been working in and see that it has turned into something more closely resembling a junk heap than a garden.

If you are smart you will have brought something like a tarp or old sheet with you. You can rake all the debris in the beds onto that sheet - it's a lot easier than trying to pick it up by the arm full. But don't drag it to the compost heap just yet, because you're not done.

Salvaging
Make sure you inspect the debris just in case you have inadvertently raked up a plant that was uprooted by frost heave. Tuck these tenderly back into the bed - they may just surprise you. I found a few bulbs today that had been heaved from the earth - and they had as much new leafy growth as those still securely tucked in. And last year I was devastated to find my prize hosta, Aphrodite, lying face down in the dirt, roots waving frantically in the air. I righted her and tucked her back where she belonged - and she grew and flowered. Plants are often much tougher than one might expect.

Once you've raked away the debris you can see what's left in the beds. The skeletons of last year's perennials and annuals may be sticking up from the ground. Cut the perennials back and pull the annuals out. Put them on the sheet with the rest of the debris.