How and When Should You Work On Spring Garden Clean Up the Right Way?

With spring happening right now, many gardeners are fired up and all set to grab their favorite pair of clippers and head out to the garden. Clear away those dead ornamental grass stalks, chop down spent perennial stems and rake up those autumn leaves now collecting in the garden beds! Hold on, don’t do quite yet.

When garden cleaning time rolls around in spring, we want to rush right out and trim everything down just like we cleaned up our yards in fall. While there are many good reasons to NOT clean up your yard in fall, there are also several good reasons to wait until spring before you clean up your garden.

The biggest reason? We want our gardens to provide homes for as many beneficial insects and other creatures as possible. While waiting until spring to clean out your garden may seem like a bad idea if you didn’t clean up in fall, by taking small steps to keep your garden a little messy, you’ll encourage next year’s population of beneficial insects and pollinators.

Here’s how to do it right.

Phase One. Cut Stems, Bundle Them, Tie Them Up, Place Wisely

Ok. Now you can cut. Kind of.

Many insects are still snoozing away in their winter hidey holes in early spring. Sometimes they wake up when temperatures rise, sometimes it’s due to increasing day-length. Plenty of beneficial insects- pollinators like tiny native bees and hungry predators like syrphid flies, lacewings, and parasitic wasps- overwinter in hollow plant stems either as adults or pupae. Cut down the dead plant stems too early in the season and you’ll inadvertently crush many of these sleeping beauties before they’ve had the chance to awaken and fly away. Wait as long as you can to do your spring garden clean up. If you can resist the urge to cut until daytime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees F for at least 1straight week, you will drastically reduce the chances of harming overwintering insects.

Of course, we gardeners love to cut down dead stems before the new growth starts, so if waiting until late spring to clean up just isn’t possible, try one of these options instead:

Cut the stems and toss them loosely on the compost pile or spread them out in a corner of the woods. The insects already living in the stems will still be able to crawl out when they’re ready. Leave about 8 inches of stubble when cutting off the plant stems. The hollow plant stems will provide home sites for future seasons insects and the new plant growth will quickly disguise them.

Cut the stems and gather them into small bundles. Bundle only a few dozen stems together. Tie each bundle together with jute twine and lean them against a fence post or tree at an angle. Insects will still emerge from the plant stems when ready. By bundling the stems together and hanging them around your yard you’ll also provide overwintering homes for insects all season long. Many native bees will also use the stems as nesting sites throughout the summer.

Phase Two: Careful Leaf Clean-Up

Just like with cutting plant stems, wait as long as possible before raking leaves out of perennial beds. Beneficial insects like ladybugs, assassin bugs, and ground beetles overwinter in leaf litter as adults. Others spend the winter in leaf litter as eggs or pupae. Adult butterflies such as morning cloaks, question marks, and commas all spend the winter beneath the leaves too. Luna moth caterpillars spin cocoons that resemble brown, crinkled leaves and rest beneath the leaves all winter. Be careful where you step as you’re cleaning up leaves this spring.

Phase Three: Hold On and Don’t Mulch Yet

Numerous beneficial insects as well as pollinators overwinter as eggs, pupae, or adults in soil burrows. Mulching too early in the spring may prevent these insects from emerging. Wait until the soil dries out and warms up a bit before applying garden mulch this spring.

Phase Four: Prune Carefully

Last but not least, if pruning any of your woody perennials or shrubs is part of your spring cleaning ritual, be sure to check each branch for cocoons and chrysalises. Many of our gorgeous moths and butterflies overwinter in an intricately woven cocoon suspended from tree branches. Swallowtails (featured photo), sulfurs, and spring azures are just a few of the many beautiful butterflies that spend the winter dangling from tree branches. Prune around them and let the branches with cocoons and chrysalises remain intact. You can always trim them back later.

Cleaning up your garden each spring shouldn’t mean destroying the habitats of thousands of beneficial insects and pollinators. Take your time and do it right. You’ll enjoy the benefits of having a thriving population of pest-munching friends and garden loving pollinators for years to come!