Fall Cleaning

End-of-season cleanup of perennial beds often seems like a chore, and there have been years where I just left it all (a la Ruth Stout) and figured I’d clean up in the spring (or not). No harm done, it seemed, except that all that vegetation is just so much more slimy and difficult to clean up after winter is over, and I’m afraid of stomping on the emerging new growth.

So nowadays, a few of the garden perennials are left for winter texture and for their seed heads that will attract the birds; but daylilies, in particular, seem to benefit from tidying up in the fall.

Always with an eye for other gardens, I’ve noticed that some gardeners cut their daylily foliage back right after the end of bloom. Most of the “experts” discourage that; as long as the foliage is green, the plant is still synthesizing and feeding the roots. In fact, cut the foliage TOO early, and the plant will send up new shoots – using up energy better saved for next year. But once the foliage yellows and browns, it can be removed.

So the photo at the top of the post is an example of a daylily that’s going into dormancy; the foliage is yellow and limp. Just take a pair of shears and cut the leaves several inches above the ground, and toss the leaves onto your compost pile.

It’s a great opportunity to remove weeds as well (because we got tired of weeding about two months ago, right?), and no doubt you’ll be surprised at how much some clumps have increased. And it's a good time to make a list of what will need dividing in the spring. AND to throw some compost into the beds, if you’re so inclined. Cleaning up the foliage makes that easier as well.

Grow your own!

We are big fans of garlic here, now that we grow our own. What a revelation it was the first time we harvested … big, beautiful purple-and-white streaked heads that seemed like a completely different animal from the store-bought stuff. And really, it is. The papery white heads commonly found in the grocery are soft-necked varieties, and nearly all of it is grown in California and shipped around the country. These are milder-flavored cloves, and for most people, the extent of their garlic experience.

And elephant garlic? – not really garlic at all. It’s actually the bulb of a type of leek.

It turns out that, while you will often read that there are hundreds of different kinds of garlic, recent DNA testing by plant biologists has determined that there are actually 10 separate, distinct varieties of garlic, with over 600 cultivated sub-varieties around the world. Five of these distinct major varieties are hardnecked types – and that’s what we grow. They tend to be the deeper, more flavorful types.

We bought our first “batch” from a neighbor who has specialized in big, beautiful, buttery-hot-tasting garlic for years, and have continued to set aside a number of the largest heads each year for replanting; selecting for the most “successful” heads improves the harvest year after year. I won’t go into detailed planting instructions – you can find that anywhere by googling – but if you want to know exactly how we do it here, just email me. It’s easy, actually; you plant in the fall, mulch well, and just wait for them to be ready the next summer. (One caveat: they really, really, really want rich soil, and if you don’t see to that, you will get smallish bulbs.)


And – bonus! – the hardneck varieties produce scapes in the spring, which make amazingly wonderful pesto, and stir-fry nicely as well. The scapes should be removed anyway, so that the plant’s energy will go into making the bulb bigger and better. Now that folks are becoming more familiar with garlic scapes, they’re seen more and more often at farmers markets. Scapes + oil + nuts + cheese = fabulous pesto; basil not necessary (but always good for additional yumminess).

Somehow, miraculously, our garlic has been planted earlier this year than ever before. There have been times when I was frantically getting it into the ground the day before a forecasted snowfall -- so it's not at all too late yet, if you're thinking about giving it a try.

Even if garlic weren’t one of the most delicious things on earth, its medicinal properties would make growing it worthwhile: it has antibiotic and antifungal properties, and has been used since forever to enhance health. But that’s another whole post sometime.