Sound the trumpets, we're finally above freezing. Actually, with balmy 60 degree temperatures it feels like spring. Too bad my garden looks awful. Normally, I can gradually tend to the fall clean up, this year everything needs to come out fast because who knows when the deep freeze will hit again.
What's worse, is it's one of the few garden chores I hate. Actually, cleaning in general annoys me. Being of the "hooshel" type - one who can do a tremendous amount in a short period of time - cleaning just slows me down. Where's the progress? This trait isn't manifested on in the garden. Take a look at my office, or follow me in the kitchen. Actually, my dream is to have someone shadow me cleaning up behind me. My mother did it years ago when I was a cook at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex. I trashed the place as I made breakfast, lunch, breads and desserts, and she took care of the disaster. It was lovely. Too bad she couldn't stay the entire summer.
So, it's tempting, especially for me, to leave it until next year, but that's a sure recipe for trouble. My friend, Jodi Torpey, talked about the importance of garden clean up on her site, westerngardeners.com. She made a good point about the need to especially remove plants affected by a virus or disease. Powdery mildew is pretty common already, and no one needs to help it along for next year.
I talked about cleaning up the garden to get a jump on next season's potential pests on PlantersPlacea few weeks ago. Although some of the nasties, like grubs, will burrow deep into the soil, others are happy in garden debris. Tomato hornworms and cutworms can hang out in a cozy pile and make it through the winter. The less I have to battle these critters, the better so I need to be diligent about removing the large piles of spent tomatoes, squash and sunflower stalks I gather when I'm tearing out everything.
The high point in garden clean up is the bonfire. I don't have a large enough compost bin at home (yet) to take care of this amount of organic matter so the next best thing is to light it on fire. My friend's husband said when they start bonfires, they'll dump fuel on it then shoot a burning arrow at the pile. I love the idea! Very dramatic, and safety conscience. No singed eyebrows. Burning in Great Falls can be a challenge. We already had one neighbor require the assistance of the fire department, and I don't want to be the next topic of conversation. So, for now I'll make my piles, then on a snowy, calm day it'll be time to toast some marshmallows over burning tomato plants.
