FALL · 6 MIN READ
What to actually do in the garden in October
Less than you think. Most autumn tidying does more harm than good.
The instinct to cut everything down and rake it bare is a hard one to resist, and it is mostly wrong. Hollow perennial stems are where a lot of native bees overwinter. Seed heads feed birds through the worst months. Leaf litter is where fireflies and moth pupae spend the winter.
Leave the perennials standing. Cut them back in April, once temperatures have been consistently above 10°C for a week or so and the insects inside have emerged.
Do rake leaves off the lawn, because grass under a wet mat of maple leaves will not survive. Do not send them away — pile them on the beds, where they are the best free mulch available.
Water evergreens deeply until the ground freezes. Winter burn on cedars is almost always desiccation, not cold: the foliage keeps losing moisture on sunny February days while the roots are in frozen ground and cannot replace it.
Plant garlic in the third week of October, spring bulbs any time before the ground hardens, and shrubs and trees right up until you cannot get a spade in.
The one thing worth cutting back hard: anything that had a disease this year. Peony leaves with botrytis, bee balm with mildew, tomato foliage. That material goes in the municipal green bin, not your compost.
Written for zone 5 in Simcoe County. If you garden somewhere colder, on sand, or in a frost pocket, come and ask — the answer changes.