Winter interest, the best excuse a gardener ever had.What should I NOT do in the garden this fall? Taking a cue from Madame Nature, in some cases the answer is restful!
My husband Bill (self-dubbed the 'garden slave') and I were driving north on a sunny highway this morning, enjoying a short thaw after over five weeks of deep freeze. We hadn't seen 45 degrees since Thanksgiving!
To his question "what can we do in the garden today?" came the surprising answer "Nothing!"
Such advice is rare in a gardener's world.
Not one to turn down an offer of assistance, particularly from one as efficient as Bill, my response was protective in mode. Stepping around the yard when the soil is spongy and only just thawed, can cause more harm than good. Footprints in the lawn or stamped in a dormant flower bed could compact the soil. Crushed molecules of soil will not as readily accept the organic matter which naturally trickles in along with the moisture of melting snow and spring rains.