Key Takeaways
Let stems of perennials stand over winter to support native insects and wildlife.Keep fallen leaves and pruning cuttings in your yard to support the ecosystem.Minimizing bare spots creates healthier soil with better moisture retention and less flooding.
What if your fall clean-up could involve less raking and more pumpkin spice lattes? Increasingly, experts are urging us to reconsider traditional fall garden chores in favor of more environmentally friendly alternatives that often require less work in the garden.
From alternative ways to dealing with fallen leaves and letting plants stand over the winter to upping planting for wildlife and biodiversity, here are ways to make your backyard more eco-friendly.
1. Handle Fallen Leaves Wisely
The first item on this list may be the most impactful. You may have heard experts asking you to “leave your leaves” instead of bagging and tossing them to the curb. Why? Keeping leaves around provides several major benefits to the ecosystem. But there are areas where it’s best to move them away from, rather than leave them where they fall.
The Benefits of Leaving the Leaves
As they break down, leaves feed the soil and the organisms within while sheltering overwintering beneficial insects and pollinators. A recent study showed that removing leaves killed up to 67% of spiders and 45% of butterfly populations—valuable species that play important roles in controlling garden pests and feeding birds.
Removing leaves not only harms your local ecosystem, but leaf blowers and other power equipment also produce extra carbon emissions. Keeping leaves on-site fosters a self-sustaining cycle, while saving you hours of bagging.
When to Clear Leaves
There are a few situations when clearing the leaves is best. Heavy leaf accumulation will smother the lawn, so rake the leaves and redistribute them to garden beds or an out-of-the-way corner. Pile them up as a shelter for pollinators, or create a casual compost pile with chicken wire to be used during spring and summer planting. Skip shredding, though, as it endangers beneficial insects.
Do remove leaves from sidewalks and parking strips. They clog storm drains and cause flooding. Any of these potentially contaminated leaves belong in municipal yard waste. Everything else can stay put or become mulch around trees, garden beds, and containers. Leaves are perfect additions for worm bins and compost piles.
2. Prune with a Light Hand
Conventional wisdom used to recommend a wholesale fall cleanup for gardens, chopping down perennials and pruning shrubs to keep things tidy before next year’s growth. That’s not only unnecessary, but can be detrimental to the plants and the wider ecosystem. For many shrubs, pruning in the fall weakens the plant by spurring tender new growth that is vulnerable to coming frosts.
Spare the Stems
More critically, stems and spent flowers serve better purposes than removal. Seedheads and berries sustain songbirds when food grows scarce in winter. Hollow stalks shelter bees and beneficial insects through cold weather.
A better plan? Keep those seedheads and stalks standing where you and wildlife can enjoy them throughout the winter. Wait to cut stems to 18 inches in May or when night temperatures have consistently reached 50°F. Or just let new spring growth cover up the old stems.
Keep Cuttings on Site
Don’t rush to remove prunings either. Try permaculture’s chop and drop method and simply leave trimmings to enrich the soil.
When pruning shrubs and trees, do your best to keep healthy trimmings in your yard as a valuable carbon resource. In the forest, stumps become nurse logs that feed fungi and other key players in the biome. Conservationists intentionally leave broken, dead, or dying trees as so-called snags, which become bird lodging. A pile of branches, arranged however you like, becomes a pollinator hotel or a bug snug for hibernating pollinators.
3. Cover Most of the Ground
Fall is also the time to take a look at your soil. Is it planted densely, or does it have lots of bare spots? The conventional image of isolated plants surrounded by seas of mulch isn’t optimal. Think of a favorite natural space where plants grow in interwoven communities with minimal bare ground.
Healthy soil that is covered with plants absorbs and releases moisture and nutrients like a sponge while staying protected from temperature extremes, heavy rain, and drying winds. The ideal way to cover soil is with plants whose roots and organic matter support the soil ecosystem. To fill bare spots, use organic mulch like natural wood chips or compost until plants fill in. Leave a few pockets of bare earth here and there for ground-nesting native bees.
Topdressing with compost in the fall creates better soil for planting next year. However, when it comes to amendments and soil fertilizer, less is more. Always let a soil test guide your choices. It’s very easy to overdo amendments that lock up nutrients, undoing your goal. The Extension Offices in many counties offer inexpensive soil testing in specialized soil laboratories.
4. Plant for Biodiversity and Pollinators
With the arrival of cooler temperatures and regular rain for most regions, fall is an ideal time for planting. Consider adding plants that will increase the food sources for your local pollinators in the off-seasons. Start with natives; they have co-evolved with your local wildlife and offer the best support, like early red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum). Supplement with non-natives that support diverse pollinators. The aster and mint families offer numerous pollinator-friendly options.
While most fall-planted bulbs aren’t U.S. natives, many feed pollinators from late winter through summer. Native camas (Camassia), central to Indigenous peoples for cooking and crafts, sends up tall white, blue, or violet spikes in May. A choreographed bulb selection feeds bees from early snowdrops (Galanthus) through crocus (Crocus), grape hyacinth (Muscari), species narcissus and tulips, to fritillaries (Fritillaria) and ornamental onion (Allium).
5. Maximize Your Garden’s Resources
Consider starting a compost pile or worm bin to put organic waste to use. Or try adding a rain barrel or rain garden to capture storm water on your property.
Save seeds of open-pollinated plants to save money next year. Only those are worth saving; seeds termed “F1” are hybrids that will not produce identical plants. Cold-hardy annual seeds like calendula, nigella, annual poppies, snapdragon, and larkspur can often be sown directly in fall to help cover the ground in spring.
Keep your tools going strong and give them some care after this year’s hard work. After use, wipe your tools clean, soak in a bucket filled with sand and a light oil like linseed or mineral oil.
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