If you haven't already cleaned up your garden this fall, now is the time to do it. Remove and discard any plant remains which have been diseased or infected with insects.

Many disease organisms survive the winter on garden debris if it is not properly destroyed. This is especially important for tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, melons and squash which have been diseased during the last growing season. Be sure to destroy the debris. Put it into the garbage or burn it, but don't put diseased plant debris into your compost pile or work it back into the soil. If tomato blight was a problem in your garden this last year, you may have helped create this condition. If you worked your tomato vines back into the garden soil last fall you probably inoculated your garden with blight for this year.

Garden pests such as the striped cucumber beetles, flea beetles and slugs normally over winter on or near the surface of the soil in plant trash. Thus a good thorough clean up of all garden refuse in the fall can help eliminate harborage and protection for over wintering garden pests. After plant removal, a light raking of the upper few inches of garden soil will help induce drying out of slugs as well as exposure of beetles and other insects to the environment.

After all plant debris has been removed from your garden, you may want to spread compost or well rotted manure over the garden. Next plow, spade or roto-till your garden area. By following this procedure your garden will be ready to go in the spring as soon as the soil is fit to be worked.

This page was last updated April 2003

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