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Published Oct 24, 2025 • 3 minute read
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Glorious autumn days notwithstanding, October is high time to get started on putting the garden away for another year.Article content
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Don’t let the warm weather lately fool you; October cleanup time has arrived
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As I look back on the gardening year of 2025, I don’t know that I remember a season quite like this one. After an unusually warm spring, we, and our gardens, endured one of the hottest and driest summers in history – at least here in Toronto. And, as of this writing, the warmth has continued well into October.
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Even so, glorious autumn days notwithstanding, October is high time to get started on putting the garden away for another year. But I don’t generally do as much in the fall as I do to start things up in spring, and there are some genuine benefits to letting at least some plants die back on their own timetable.
High on the list is the matter of “winter interest,” in which the ghostly remains of some plants are kept in place to add beauty to the winter landscape.
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Some taller grasses, dried hydrangea blossoms and the like are admittedly quite lovely in winter, as long as you don’t let them get too tatty.
But there are definitely some chores that I do like to perform in the fall, and you may thank yourself next spring if you’ve taken care of some of the labour now.
I’ve been reading a lot lately about the pros and cons of raking up dead leaves. There’s a school of thought that says you should leave them alone to disintegrate just as nature intended, even on the lawn.
A lot of beneficial insects overwinter in the leaves, and raking them up and putting them in leaf bags will kill them. Also, decomposing leaves are one of the best (and free!) forms of compost there is.
On the other hand, leaving them to get wet and mat down – especially, larger, flatter leaves like maple and oak – can smother the ground beneath and lead to mildew, disease and other problems, particularly on lawns.
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From my point of view, both the leavers and the rakers make valid points, so this is what I do. From September on, I mow my tiny lawn – fallen leaves and all – then rake up the grass and leaf bits and spread them on the beds.
The leaves that fall directly on the beds, I leave alone. Sure, I might be murdering some insects, but hopefully there’s enough left to sleep in my flowerbeds to clear my conscience.
Similarly, there are differing opinions about cutting back perennials. Leaving the crown intact does protect the plants, especially during what Joni Mitchell called “those bald-headed days of November,” before the plant is fully asleep.
Seedheads from milkweed and black-eyed Susans can provide food for birds when there isn’t much else around. Yes, all true, but.
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I cut back peony stalks, daylily leaves and hosta leaves, clear up any fallen, yellowed plant material and pull up dead or dying annuals. I used to leave the stems of black-eyed Susans standing – until I realized that within a couple of years, they were growing in every crack in the sidewalk and up and down my street as well. So now I cut them back completely. And I continue to weed and tidy up the mulch all through the month.
At the end of the season, I’ll do a final “beauty” cleanup. Not everyone does this, and you don’t have to for the plants’ sake. But my garden is part of my home’s curb appeal, so I make sure the paved sections are thoroughly Weed-Eaten and swept, and the beds are mulched and tidy.
Oh, one last thing: I make extra sure there are no stray leaves or weeds left on the edges of the driveway and the sidewalk. To me, shovelling a fresh, pristine snowfall a few months from now and unearthing a bunch of old rotten leaves is nothing short of gross.
Please feel free to write in with questions, to comment or to share your own city gardening adventures
with Martha. Write to her at marthasgarden07@gmail.com.
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