Top Tips For Winterizing Your Garden
Winterizing your garden is an important process of every fall season. A bittersweet moment, as it’s time to say goodbye to a season well done, rest for a moment, and begin to plan again. Any farmer knows their job is never done. Generally, there is about a month or two between the end of the year and planning for the next. Just as we need time to rest and recoup, the earth also needs wintertime in order to recover and regenerate for another productive year. The balance of receiving and giving back is an important lesson the seasons show us.
Before it’s time to wrap up the season for good, there are a few steps you should take to ensure your garden or farm will be ready for winter, and even more importantly spring! Once the soil begins to thaw you’ll be ready to get planting, and require less work. For those of you that live in warmer winter climates, you may want to let beds or areas retire for winter to regenerate the soil. While also incorporating season extenders to continue to grow and harvest through the winter.
How to Winterize your Garden or Farm
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Make sure you write down or have a picture of where and what you planted. This will help immensely in planning next year’s garden.
Harvest all the last edible vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Remove all remaining dead plants, steaks, trellises, etc.
Check plants for pests or diseases before throwing them in your home compost. Without enough time to curate, bugs and such can spread into your healthy compost.
It is best to burn infected scraps, or they can be placed in your yard waste bin.
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Once your space is free and clean, this is a great time to test your soil. Depending on how many different areas or varieties of vegetables you grow, more soil samples may be needed.
Understanding the PH of your soil is important in order to know which beneficial amendments to put on your soil in preparation for spring planting.
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After each season it is important to add nutrients back into the soil. Certain crops will leave soil less depleted because of the nutrients it needed to grow all season long.
This is also a great time to do soil tests in order to see what nutrients may need to be replenished.
Compost is a great all in one fertilizer to add to garden beds or plots. Spread an even layer of about 1-2 inches , and gently rake into exisiting soil. This helpls rebuild soil all winter long. Compost acts as a slow release fertilizer. Come spring time, your beds will be nutrient rich and ready for planting.
Save your leaves! If you don’t have compost laying around or don’t want to spend the money, leaves from your yard (or neighbors) is a great ammendment to add in the fall. Over winter the leaves will also act as a great mulch, protecting the soil from winter weather, holds moisture, and is great for fighting off weeds.
Taking these few steps at the end of the season to winterize your garden, is a great way to set yourself up for spring success. Once temperatures begin to warm and it’s time for planting, your crops will have a great environment to grow and flourish. Gently use a broad fork or rake to break up any compacted soil, spread your seeds and watch them grow!
A Farmer’s job is never done, as Fall and Winter are a great time to get thinking about next year’s garden. Using the winter months to plan and prepare will ensure a well-thought-out plan of action for spring. Due to current circumstances, materials can be back-ordered and take longer than usual to get. Ensure you’ll be right on schedule by planning ahead. Not sure where to start with your garden planning? Head to my consulting page to check out the many different options I offer to assist in your growing process. I love to plan and design gardens so that you get the most out of your space with little effort. Always reach out with any questions you may have, I’d love to hear from you!
