Cranesbill - clearing old stems please?

Hi All,


(Sorry that should be 'stems' not 'steams'!)

This is my first summer with my new garden. There are a LOT of cranesbills, which is great, but I have never had them before. Last year, although I owned the house, I didn't live here, so didn't cut them back in the Summer, nor in the Autumn/Winter.

Now I have given some the '(late Chelsea Chop') I can see there are a lot of stems from last year, matted on the soil and they look pretty tough, as if they won't break down easily.

It is clay loam soil and I am an organic gardener and trying to do no-dig as much as possible, so happy to let as much OM return to the soil as possible, but don't want to harm the soil either by leaving OM that won't decompose very easily.

So, my question please. Should I gently try to remove last years stems, before the flowers grow back (hopefully) OR just leave them and they will break down in organic matter and be taken back into the soil by beneficials please?

Many thanks in advance.

 

Hi,

Never left them to see if they rot down, expect they would but as they create a tight mat they might restrict the new growth a bit ?

If it was us, we would lift up those old stems and cut them off as close to the ground as possible which should reveal plenty of new shoots trying to get up.
Even if you don't see any new shoots, think they will soon appear once you clear to old stems away, they seem very tough plants.

Hopefully you will still get another flush of flowers this summer.

They are very easy plants to propagate, where you see some new shoots coming up around the edge of the plant, just lift a trowel full of its roots and place it where you want a nice plant for next spring.

 

Brilliant @ricky101, thank you. I will clear them tomorrow, chop them up and add them to the new compost heap, they might act as ‘brown’ compost, which I need anyway.

Thank you again