A Toronto Fall Front Garden Cleanup in the Palmerston Area

Wrapping up Another Successful Season!

Winter has arrived, weather-wise anyway, so I've begun my annual "hibernation" until next spring. By mid to late November, I'm more than ready to "throw in the trowel" as I'm mentally and physically drained from working, more or less, non stop from late April. And working in the November cold isn't appealing, to be honest.

This post shows a very typical, for me, fall garden cleanup during mid October into November. Perennials are entering winter dormancy, tree leaves are everywhere and certain clients want that "tidy" garden look over the winter.

I visit this garden once a year in October and cut down the herbaceous material (e.g., the Ostrich Fern fronds, the Japanese Forest Grass leaves, etc.), rake up the maple leaves from a neighbouring tree, lightly clip the wintercreeper and remove the rambunctious honeysuckle vine that always wants to engulf the poor weeping Japanese maple.

Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Afterwards, you can see the stone path and dry river bed that is part of the design. It's quite cute but is hidden by summer by the ferns and grasses.

Toronto Fall Cleanup After

Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Fall Cleanup After

Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Fall Cleanup After

So I bid adieu to this garden until next October!

Wrapping Up the 2021 Work Season with a Fall Cleanup in Little Portugal

Tidying Up Before the Snow Arrived

Another successful work season is finally over and my reward is now having the time to read, rest and recover.  Every year it gets a little harder to work outside but that's just part of getting older. From April to November I get to see all sorts of gardens, good and bad, and all sorts of clients (all good, well...). Working in a cubicle performing the same tasks daily is definitely something I don't miss.

The fall cleanups went on right until the end of November since we didn't have a significant snowfall until a few days ago. I managed to see some new clients who approached me quite late but luckily, the bad weather held out until after I was able to work for them.

This post covers a very small weeding and pruning project in the Little Portugal section of Toronto. The lots in this neighbourhood tend to be narrow and shallow so the actual garden areas are on the small side. Still, if a garden has not been weeded all season, it tends to look like this by late autumn, regardless the size:

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup Before 

Working in the cold (just a few degrees above zero) is always hard but fortunately the front garden wasn't large so after a few hours of weeding and pruning, it looked much tidier.

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup After

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup After 

The backyard garden is typically (for this area) also small but similarly ignored all season:

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup Before

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

I usually suggest that ornamental grasses be left alone for the winter to give the homeowners something to look at for five plus months but as per the clients' request, I cut them down. I also assumed that snow will be piled on to the bed anyway in order to access the garage so it will be easier to do this without the tall grasses getting in the way.

Toronto Little Portugal Fall Cleanup After

Little Portugal Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Putting the 2019 Gardening Season to Rest

A Final Fall Cleanup in Cabbagetown

Better late than never: that's my attitude with getting my autumn work completed before a big snowfall occurs and in posting these garden cleanup examples. This will be my last one this year, I promise!

I have quite a few clients in the downtown neighbourhood of Cabbagetown, The size and location of these gardens fit well with my capabilities (one person company who travels by public transit). The properties tend to be small and I often consider the gardens like jewel boxes: tiny but filled with glittering objects.  Many mature trees line the streets and laneways and make growing a lawn on a postage stamp-sized front or back area impractical in most situations. The emphasis, then, is on hardscape and specimen trees and perennials.

The front and back yards shown in this post will show, again, "no lawn" gardens typical in Cabbagetown. 

I'll start in the front first:

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Front Yard Before

Nothing complex with the front cleanup: just raking out the large amount of maple leaves which have been collecting since October in this very small Cabbagetown front garden.

There's no real "right" or "wrong" answer with not removing leaves from your garden beds every autumn. If you're lazy, busy or prefer to give your perennials and overwintering insects (pests or not) a cozy home with a nice thick layer of natural insulation, it's o.k. that you don't bother raking the leaves. I think it's also fine if you prefer to remove them in the fall as you may consider the look messy. Since winter here in Toronto lasts into April, that's a long time to see an "untidy" area for many homeowners and certainly for those clients who have hired me in the fall.

Given the amount of property taxes one pays for a Toronto now, you should be able to decide about your leaves one way or another without public shaming or moral judgments.

They're just tree leaves!

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Front Yard After

Cabbagetown Front Yard Fall Cleanup Before

Cabbagetown Front Yard Fall Cleanup After

Cabbagetown Front Yard Fall Cleanup Before 

Cabbagetown Front Yard Fall Cleanup After 

In the backyard...

Cabbagetown Backyard Fall Cleanup Before 

Cabbagetown Backyard Fall Cleanup After 

I cut down the herbaceous perennial stalks and leaves from the peonies, hostas and phlox. I also left alone the "evergreen" coral bells (Heuchera), a woody Tree Peony and, of course, the various boxwood beach balls. The latter, I admit, do provide winter interest as the snow collecting on them will make them green and white beach balls!

Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard Before

Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard After 

Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard Before 

Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard After 

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard Before

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard After

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard Before

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard After 

Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard Before 

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard After 

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard Before 

Toronto Cabbagetown Fall Cleanup Backyard After 

That's it for the fall cleanups this year. I'll start posting blog entries which will show flowers, lush foliage and vibrant colour as several seasonal indoor flower shows are/will be occurring soon at a nearby Conservatory.

You've put up with seeing nasty brown bits of dead and dying vegetation in this blog recently so it's the least I can do!

Returning to Bedford Park for Another Fall Cleanup

When the Gardener is Away, the Goutweed will Spread

Winter is firmly entrenched here in Toronto as I write this blog entry. It's hard to believe that only up to a week ago I was working outside and finishing up my work season. Now's the time to "rest, read and recover"!

I have a few more fall cleanups to show you and that'll be it, I promise. Well, until next fall.

This entry goes over some work I performed in a front garden I visit maybe twice a year. The property is located in the Bedford Park neighbourhood of north-central Toronto. The garden faces north but receives full sun for most of the day. With the client's help, we've planted many lower-maintenance perennials over the past few years like purple coneflower, Oriental poppy, aster, and Japanese anemone.

There's quite a bit of variety in terms of plant material in the front. I "inherited" many common (over-used?) shrubs and perennials like holly, euonymus, daylilies and irises. Admittedly, they are hardy so I can't be too harsh in my criticism. However, I also inherited a very persistent clump (to be more accurate, clumps) of one of the worst perennial weeds I have to deal with: goutweed or ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria). I wouldn't say it's number one on my top ten list of "bad" weeds (I reserve that spot to Japanese knotweed) but it's been a challenge trying to control goutweed in this garden. (I've profiled my goutweed "eradication" attempts in a post titled "Me, the Goutweed Removal Machine!: Saving a Bedford Park, Toronto Front Garden Bed" for your amusement.)

I'll get back to goutweed travails a little later. First, here are the "before" and "after" pictures of the fall cleanup:

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Front Yard Cleanup Before 

The garden area is rectangular and requires very little maintenance, aside from occasional watering during very hot and dry spells. Many of the neighbours have grass which, of course, involves regular mowing, watering, fertilizing, etc.

Typical for fall cleanups, I cut down dead or dying perennial foliage and stems and prune, as needed, the woody plants like the euonymus and Black Lace Elderberry for shape and control.

The biggest maintenance headache is trying to remove, once and for all, the plain mean and green goutweed without using a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate.

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Front Yard Cleanup After

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Front Yard Cleanup Before

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Front Yard Cleanup After

You likely can't see them very well in the "after" pictures but there are many small clumps of goutweed just waiting to spread aggressively next spring when temperatures rise again. I did dig out most (obviously not all) of the goutweed in May 2019 but since no one has tended this garden since then, any small piece of goutweed rhizome left in the soil has grown unchecked.

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Front Yard Cleanup Before

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Front Yard Cleanup After

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Cleanup After

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Cleanup Before 

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Front Yard Cleanup Before

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Front Yard Cleanup After

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Front Yard Cleanup Before

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Front Yard Cleanup After 

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Cleanup Before

Toronto Bedford Park Fall Cleanup After 

And in the backyard...

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Back Yard Cleanup Before

Bedford Park Toronto Fall Back Yard Cleanup After 

I'll contact the client again next April to schedule yet another "goutweed removal session"; otherwise, this front garden that holds lots of promise will be smothered again by the green menace!