Garden Clean-up

Insects and disease hide in this mess.

A little gardening clean-up helps prevent problems by eliminating the places where insects and diseases linger from season to season. Practice these five habits of highly effective gardeners!

1. Remove all spent plants as soon as they are finished producing.
2. Don’t compost insect- or disease-infested plants. Bag them for the trash.
3. Remove old mulch and replace with fresh each season.
4. Till open soil in late fall to expose to deadly freezing weather any insects over-wintering in the ground. Do this again in winter if the soil is not too wet or frozen.
5. Some insects hide under old boards and other shelters. Eliminate any garden items that might provide a shelter from weather.