At some point between Autumn and the end of Winter, when the flowers and foliage have died down, it’s commonly held best practice to give your ornamental borders and beds a thorough cleaning.<\/p>\n
Of course, if you love the wild look and want to encourage wildlife (including slugs, or “homing frog lunches”, as I think of them privately to myself when no one is looking, given a slug’s tendency to seek shelter where my frogs and toads are lurking), then step “one and done” here is to do nothing and relax, the plants will all be fine…<\/p>\n
But if only to keep gardeners in business, teenagers in pocket money, and marriages in harmony, we clean our beds and borders in order to:<\/p>\n
The last week of February is a bit late to deliberate whether to have your big clean in Autumn or late Winter. Pondering the Autumn vs late Winter question is Gardener Scott in Colorado (much like Croydon, but bigger):<\/p>\n
A big part of the answer will be what you’re growing, when you have time \/ energy, and your preferences around what makes your garden look nice for you: I love seeing everything freshly wood chipped (I exclusively use freely delivered conifer woodchips with all the pine needles, and no, it does not acidify the soil<\/a>) around the base of everything, crisply up to the lawn edge.<\/p>\n