Don’t Prune Your Garden in the Fall
Maintaining your garden in Fall
We are counting days from the new season of Fall, so this week we’re going to remind you to put the brakes on your fall garden maintenance before you end up hurting your garden. Once you’re done raking you may feel compelled to keep the momentum going and decide to prune your garden one last time before the frost. STOP! Put down the pruning shears. Despite all your instincts, and everything you’ve been told fall is not the time to prune your garden.
Right now your flowers, trees, shrubs, and bushes are beginning to prepare for their winter hiatus. They’ve bloomed for the last time and trees are preparing to shed their leaves and fall dormant. It may seem like a great time to prune one last time so that your garden is ready as soon as spring rolls around, but pruning stimulates growth and your plants are trying to rest. Pruning in the fall is like keeping a baby awake that is desperately trying to take a nap. Wait until late winter or early spring to prune your garden. For now, just let it sleep.
That being said, if you spot dead, damaged or diseased branches or branches that are in danger of damaging any property then by all means, prune away. Branches that are hanging too close to gutters, windows, roofs, and chimneys should be chopped so that they don’t cause damage during the winter. The same goes for branches that are hanging over your fence, especially near gates and areas where there is a lot of foot traffic. If you have a dying branch hanging over your neighbor’s fence, cut it now and avoid having to pay for your neighbor’s fence repair. Or worse, having to repair the fence yourself in the dead of winter.
So, leave your garden alone in the fall. Do keep raking those leaves and making that mulch, but you have our permission to leave the rest of the garden to get it’s beauty sleep until spring rolls around.