Itching to start spring garden cleanup? Not so fast!

When the blare of the year's first leaf blower awakened me one morning last week, I realized spring cleanup had commenced -- no matter that March could still roar like a lion here in my Long Island, New York, neighborhood.

It stands to reason that professional landscapers cannot logistically clear all of their clients' properties at the same time -- the right time -- so they start early. That's good for them but bad for our gardens.

In mine, I forgo the fall cleanup, opting instead to allow leaf litter, ornamental grasses and spent perennials to remain standing to serve as shelter for pollinators and other insects over winter. Those insects are still hibernating, and removing the debris before they resume their life cycles would mean removing them from my garden.

That would result in less food for birds and fewer flowers and tomatoes for me.

The jury is out among experts on the exact timing, but there is consensus around waiting until temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees, which is when dormant insects "wake up." Some define "consistently" as a minimum of five days. I typically wait until after seven consecutive 50-degree-plus nights have passed.

Even then, it's advisable to relocate plant matter to a corner of the yard for another week or so before removing it from your property, just in case any sleepyheads hit the snooze button.

Like clockwork, premature cleaning will be followed by premature mulching. Applying mulch makes the garden look tidy, but remember that soil and plants are not furniture. They're part of a living ecosystem. Mulching before the soil has warmed sufficiently will trap in the cold and slow the reawakening of perennial, shrub and tree roots. That inhibits plant growth.

And if the soil is wet, early applications can encourage