PREPARING YOUR GARDEN FOR THE WINTER (Vegetable Gardening)

The better the clean-up job you do in fall, the easier it will be to start in on the new growing season in spring. You may be tempted to skip some of these last-minute chores, but they’re really worth doing because they can make a big difference to the success of next year’s garden. True, they could be put off until spring, but come spring you’ll have so much to do in the garden that it’ll be a big relief to have some of the work out of the way ahead of time.
• It’s a good idea to plant what farmers call a green manure or cover crop in the fall as part of your preparation for the following year. This is a crop that you don’t intend to harvest. It’s there simply to provide protection for the soil underneath, and when you’re preparing for your spring planting you dig the whole crop into the soil. A cover crop will keep your precious topsoil from blowing or washing away, and tilling it into the soil in spring will provide valuable organic matter to enrich the texture of the soil. It’s not necessary to plant the whole cover crop at one time to cover the entire garden; you can plant in each area of the garden as you harvest. Some of the best green manure or cover crops are rye, clover, oats, soybeans, and vetch. Scatter the seeds over the area you want to plant—if it’s a large area a hand spreader will do the job comfortably.
• As an alternative to planting a cover crop, you can prepare the soil ahead of time. Tilling your soil in the fall can save you a lot of time and help you get an earlier start in the spring, because the soil is often too wet in early spring to let you use a spade or a rototiller. If you do till your soil in the fall, make sure to cover the soil with mulch to keep it from blowing or washing away.
• If you’re growing perennial crops in a cold climate, fall is the time to protect them against winter temperatures. Apply a mulch over the whole plant when the soil first freezes, but not before then; if you mulch when the soil is still warm, you’ll encourage root rot problems. Remember to remove this mulch as soon as the soil starts to thaw out in the spring. The best materials to use for this mulch are organic materials that will let the plants breathe; straw, hay, leaves, and compost are all suitable. Crops you may need to mulch for winter protection include: artichokes (in some areas); chayotes; rhubarb; and such herbs as chives, garlic, marjoram, mints, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme.
When you’re through with these final tasks, you have done the best you can to prepare your garden for winter. It’s time to sit back and relax—and if you miss the time in your garden, you can beguile your winter hours by reading seed catalogs and planning the garden you’re going to plant come spring.

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