Fall Cleanup from Margaret Roach's website "A Way To Garden"

 

Identify some areas that can be left “messy,” particularly fallen leaves left in place under native trees and even a brush pile–to act as essential habitat for overwintering beneficials, from moths and butterflies to spiders and more. Leaf litter is prime habitat for many important arthropods that can help us with pollination and pest control as adults next year. In 2025, research published by Max Ferlauto and Karin Burghardt revealed just how dire the loss of those beneficials is when leaves are removed from the ground: The average abundance of butterflies and moths was reduced by about 45 percent. Spider emergence declined by 56 percent, and beetle emergence declined by 24 percent, for example.

Composting or shredding leaves or even piling them too high likewise reduces survivors within them, the Ferlauto-Burghardt research also revealed. So what to do? Moving them whole is best, if they must be moved. I don’t rake the looser outer beds, for example, and move much of the leaves from paths and the lawn to spots under trees instead as the base of “soft landing” plantings.

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Leave especially ornamental or wildlife-friendly plants standing. Don’t act as if you’re vacuuming the living room; clean up beds tactically for maximum enjoyment by you and the birds.

Remove sickly things first. Destroy the debris to minimize next year’s issues with squash bugs, cabbage worms, and other pests and diseases, especially in the vegetable garden.

Stabilize woody plants: Identify any vulnerable limbs, removing broken or dead branches now to make sure winter weather doesn’t worsen things.

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With the leaves you do need to rake up, and cannot find a spot to relocate, start a leaves-only compost pile. Once crumbly after aging in a heap, they make great mulch, or can be turned into beds to add organic matter. Again, though: leave as many leaves in place as you can.

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Late-season lawncare: Do your heavy raking now—not in spring—and overseed if there’s still time where you live. Topdress with a half- or three-quarter-inch layer of compost onto thin or trampled areas.

Protect or store weather-vulnerable pots and the tender plants in them: At a minimum, move pots under cover, where they will dry off (to minimize heave/thaw effects of weather).

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Weed! Besides cleaning up around diseased plants, this is a giant “must.” Even if you can’t weed, exactly, deadhead your weeds now and discard the seeds. Fewer seeds now, fewer weeds next year.  “One year seed, seven years weed.”