Summer is over , fall is in full baseball swing , and winter looms on the horizon . On my northern Wisconsin farm , it ’s time to begin ready my garden for winter , a lengthy but important process to ascertain the garden beds are ready for plant as soon as temperatures warm back up again in the springtime .
These day , I plant almost alone in raised bottom , which present a tidy appearance while help control weeds and clearly severalize dissimilar types of plants . Raised garden beds also provide precise ascendance over soil opus . But that control can stand for extra feat set up them for winter .
Exactly how you proceed with prepping seasonal garden bed for wintertime may vary depend on where you exist . But the following four steps should prove helpful in many situations .
Read more : Check out these tips for measuring & space raised garden layer .
1. Clear Away Plants & Fruit
empty the beds is the well place to begin . set forth by clear away bulky textile like stem and leaves . regard removing entire plants ( roots and all ) to lessen the likelihood of diseases and pests overwintering on decay material .
Also , do n’t forget to clean up fallen fruit . I know from experience that if you leave hang tomato behind , you ’ll get a crop of random volunteer tomato seedlings in the spring .
2. Adjust the Soil Composition
Especially if you ’re like for raise garden beds , you may want to adjust the dirt composition before winter . Sometimes over the course of a growing time of year , I total to realize I ’ve added too muchcompostand not enough surface soil to a call forth bottom , or vice versa .
You ’ll be capable to evaluate over the course of study of a season if your plants are contend to grow through dense grime or struggle to retain moisture in loose territory . Autumn is a unspoiled time to make correction .
Read more : These are the 7 tools you postulate for handling manure & compost .
3. Add Nutrients & Mulch
At the same sentence you adjust the soil constitution , consider supply compost , grass clippings , shredded farewell , etc . to give the soil a general nutrients hike . A grease test can help confirm whether your soil is lacking anything specific , in which case you’re able to make up with an appropriate amendment .
Mulching soilfor wintertime is also beneficial , keeping out the defective of winter cold and provide protective cover from erosion . A nice layer of organic mulch can simultaneously feast your grunge and present something of a barrier against gage in the spring .
4. Label What You Grew in the Beds
harvest rotary motion is important to avert enfeeble a bed of the nutrient need to mature a specific plant . And you should n’t assume you ’ll recall from one twelvemonth to the next what you grew in each layer .
view make a chart or map to mark down the plants you grew in each bed , then refer to it the follow spring when you start planting . Or if you have enkindle garden bed and are concerned about misplacing your mapping ( it chance ) , use paint or an outdoor mark to pronounce each bed at once .
Prepping garden beds for winter can be a big task , but just recollect — they’ll be quick to go first matter in the spring . Maybe you could begin harvesting garden vegetables sooner than usual !
