It's Time To: Make plans for fall garden cleanup

It’s a little too soon to start cleaning up the garden.

But it’s not too early for questions about fall cleanup, whether you’re a first-time gardener wondering when to start, or a veteran gardener wondering how to destroy diseased plants.

A combination of cool temperatures and moisture resulted in blight diseases on tomatoes.

Gardeners who had problems with tomato blight saw the plant’s leaves turn a pale, mottled yellow-green. Should those leaves go into the backyard compost pile? Or to the facility that composts Omaha’s yard waste, turning it into a usable compost, sold under the name OmaGro?

Backyard compost heaps don’t get hot enough to kill the diseased tomato plants, said Mary Anna Anderson, an associate in horticulture with the University of Nebraska Extension for Douglas and Sarpy Counties.

But, she said, the OmaGro facility does get hot enough to kill diseases and most weeds.

Also, consider cleaning tomato cages with hot soapy water; a 10 percent solution of bleach water; a wipe-down with a bleach-infused disposable wipe; or dip the cage in a bleach bath for about five seconds.

Use alcohol in place of bleach if you’re afraid of discoloring your garden tools.

Anderson said many new gardeners are more concerned about whether to leave a perennial or cut it down at the end of the season.

Anderson advises to cut it down if diseased and, if healthy, leave them for the birds (to provide seeds and shelter) or simply for winter interest in the landscape. Trimming can be done in late winter or early spring.

Deadhead flowers to encourage another bloom or two, and divide plants that have outgrown their garden spot.

As for raking, as long as leaves aren’t diseased, you may leave them on flower beds to break down over winter.

Annuals, which will not survive the winter in your garden, can be dumped out of their pots. Wash the pots in a bleach solution or hot, soapy water. Anderson advises against saving used potting soil. It would be better to throw it onto outdoor garden plots or mix it with compost than to risk over-wintering diseases.

Finally, wait for plants to die back naturally. Plants like peonies, which put out giant blooms in late spring, need to hold onto their leaves to help restore their energy.

So when does the gardening season end?

Expect the garden to be on its way out by mid- to late October, Anderson said, and certainly, after two or three hard frosts, in mid-November.

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