The City Gardener: Settling in for a long winter's nap

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As another gardening season draws to a close, there are still a few chores to do before hanging up our tools for good

Over the years, I’ve noticed that my garden doesn’t always go completely dormant in winter.

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It could be climate change, or the fact that some parts of the garden are more sheltered than others. Or it could be that some plants just like to grow and aren’t ready to give up that easily.

The most dramatic example of this occurred one December, when I noticed a bright little spot of purple under the gas meter at the front of my house.

I figured it was some trash blown in on the winds and went to tidy it up, but when I got close it turned out to be a pansy, blooming its little heart out even with snow a few inches away.

How that little guy survived, and then actually bloomed, will always be a mystery to me, and the kind of everyday garden miracle that keeps us working the soil year after year.

But the thing is, Canadian gardens really need a period of winter dormancy, and late fall is a good time to not only get it ready for winter but give it a fine start next spring.

It’s also a great way to get out and enjoy a fine late-autumn afternoon, before winter shuts us all away inside for the next few months.

Fall is a great time to get after your most persistent weeds, like those growing in cracks in the driveway and so on. Try to get as much of the weed as you can, but if you leave a little root under the soil, that will at least severely stunt them.

You don’t really need to cut everything down. Grasses swaying in the wind have a stark beauty, and some shrubs, such as red-twig dogwood, actually look better in winter.

But woody-stemmed perennials, like peonies, should be trimmed to ground level, along with any broad-leafed perennials that tend to mat, such as hostas. Fine-leaved plants like irises and daylilies are best trimmed to a few inches above the soil, to reduce the chance of rot.

Lots of perennials will be in their seedhead stage now, and some are attractive enough to leave for “winter interest.” Whether you choose to leave them or cut them down is a matter of personal preference.

I used to leave my black-eyed Susans in place all winter, but I admit that they are now the most pervasive weed in my garden, and some of my neighbours’ too. So now I cut them down.

Adding a fresh layer of compost – maybe three or four inches deep, loosely packed – is well worth the extra time it takes. The easiest way is just to pile it right on top of the beds; if you use mulch, you can just trowel the compost on top of that and scratch it in a little if you like (although you don’t have to).

Fallen leaves make fabulous free compost, but don’t just pile the whole leaves willy-nilly on your beds (or leave them on your lawn, unless they are already dried out).

If you do, especially with wide, flat leaves like oak or maple, you’ll end up with a matted, soggy mess come spring that can actually damage your soil.

Use your lawn mower to pulverize them first; or at the very least, pile them up in a corner of your backyard and wait till they are thoroughly dry before spreading them on your beds.

Then, for the next few months, there’ll be nothing left to do but re-read your favourite gardening books, tend to your houseplants and dream of next year, when – as I say every year – the garden will definitely have its best year yet.

Please feel free to write in with questions, to comment or to share your
own city gardening adventures. Write to me at marthasgarden07@gmail.com.