For the list of all the Garden Tips, click here . The first tendency is to rake away leaves and debris, turn the soil and frame the new plants with the glorious colour of earth. Cleaning up the beds is a habit not easily broken because of the long time we've been denied the ability to garden. In early spring, perennial beds contain a vast collection of living plant roots.
Roots thrive at the lower soil temperatures in late fall and early spring.
In the fall, root growth continues for 6 or more weeks after the tops have died or stopped growing. In the spring, roots begin their growth long before the young shoots emerge. Too much enthusiastic digging with a cultivator in early spring can damage these new roots. It is a sickening feeling to puncture a tulip bulb with a trowel or unearth bulbs which you forgot were there. Every year I vow to avoid digging in areas I suspect are vacant but every year at least one bulb is sacrificed for the sake of my need to garden.