GUEST WRITER :: Char Montgomery

Now that the gardening season is over and winter is on its way, some people think they must strip their flower beds back ruthlessly - uprooting annuals, cutting back perennials and sweeping away every wayward leaf. 

The result - a clear stretch of brown soil to look out at all winter.  How boring!  Hopefully, you will have planted some shrubs in your garden to provide winter interest, but perennials can also provide visual impact through those bleak wintery months.  Ornamental grasses can be left at full height, as well as perennials such as astilbe.  The feathery plumage will give a distinctive touch to the winter landscape.  Even some annuals, like Dusty Millar or Ornamental Cabbage will keep their colour for a long time after freeze-up. 

Cutting down all your perennials to ground level may also be hazardous to their health.  If we don't get sufficient snow coverage (which is quite possible here in Toronto), perennials may suffer from the variations in temperature which cause thawing and then a killer frost.  To help in this regard, we recommend insulating your tender plants (see "The Final Straw").

While you can leave some remnants of your garden in place of the winter, the one spot you should clear is your lawn.  While raking leaves is no joy (especially on chilly November days), leaving them on the lawn can cause problems in the Spring as they mat down and smother the grass underneath.  Some people try to time their raking just right - when the last leaves have fallen, but the first snowfall hasn't arrived.  Of course, that doesn't always work, but it can be worth a try!

While the city suggests that you rake your leaves and put them out for yard waste pick-up, why give up that fantastic organic matter?  Instead, create your own rich compost for the garden! Bag fallen leaves (with the exception of oak leaves) in plastic bags with some airholes poked through the sides. Throw in a handful of fertilizer and a shovel-full of soil and store them in an out-of-the-way place over the winter.  In the Spring, the bags will be half the size and the contents will be well on their way to first-rate compost!