It’s that time of year to start putting your gardens to bed for winter. For most people this means removing all dead growth, cutting back overgrown branches and removing leaf litter. Other gardeners pretty much leave their gardens as is, maybe pile some extra leaves on the garden to protect the plants from the cold, but clean everything up when new growth starts in the spring. Then still others just leave their garden as is, letting old dead growth fall between the plants and slowly decay, never really getting a neat and tidy garden.
There are pros and cons to all three techniques, cleaning a garden bare strips the soil of any insulation from the cold, but removes any possible diseases that could spread to next year’s growth. Piling on extra leaves for the winter can insulate the plants from winter’s cold, but the leaves could compact under the snow and smother next year’s growth. Leaving everything in place to rot naturally provides nutrients for future growth, but could provide perfect breeding ground for a mildew or virus that could destroy next year’s growth.
One benefit to leaving decaying plant material in place that most people don’t think of is providing winter protection to insects. Many butterfly and moth species caterpillars overwinter under the leaf litter in gardens. The most common one is the brown and black wooly bear caterpillar that is often seen in October looking for a good place to hibernate for the winter. Folklore states that the color of the bands of this caterpillar indicate how bad winter will be: the longer the black, the worse the winter. This wooly bear is the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth. If this caterpillar can’t find an adequate place to hibernate for the winter it will slowly dry out and die.
By providing hibernation sites for insects doesn’t mean that your garden will be overrun with them come Spring. Most hibernating insects are native species that are essential for the pollination of wildflowers. Others are predators of noxious species like aphids. Others, like the firefly, provide fun come summer and still others, like the wooly bear, provide beauty when they transform into butterflies or moths come spring.
If you are interested in providing a winter home to insects this year, leave as much plant material as possible on your garden. If you still have bare dirt, you can add some dry tree leaves, but keep them loose and don’t pile them too thick or they can compress and smother your plants and the hibernating insects. In the spring if you feel the need to remove some of the plant debris, do so carefully and place it in a loose pile out of the way so that any late sleepers will have the time to wake up when they’re good and ready.
Millie Dellaquila, Teatown Lake Reservation
