The harvest season is now over.
Now is the time to prepare your vegetable garden to face winter.
Why is this important?
Because a vegetable garden that passes the winter smoothly is much easier to cultivate in the spring!
When the frost comes in November, the garden is overrun with weeds and dying plants...
Fortunately, here are 7 simple tips to prepare your vegetable garden for the next spring . Watch:
It's a bit like the savannah in the vegetable garden at the end of the season. It's everywhere. We're going to have to put it all back together.
To make it easier, divide the vegetable garden into several working areas that are not too large.
The task thus seems less difficult and you can see much better that things are progressing. Clean each area thoroughly:
- Remove all dead plants: certain diseases such as mildew or pests can overwinter on foliage or fruit left in the garden. Remove all dead leaves. But also stems, plants and all rotten fruits or vegetables. You can put them on the compost heap as long as they are healthy. But if your plants are affected by fungi, mildew or mold, throw them in the trash. Thus, there will be no contamination of other species in the compost bin.
- Add a layer of mulch :remove the weeds under the old mulch, then add a layer of compost 3 to 5 cm high. Lightly cover the vegetable garden with the old mulch to suppress weeds and protect the soil without insulating it. Frost is the perfect weapon to get rid of many diseases and pests. Be careful not to mulch too thickly, as this could prevent the ground from freezing completely. Once the ground freezes, add another layer of mulch over perennials and over flowers.
This is also a good time to do a soil test to find out if your soil is more acidic or neutral.
You can then compensate and adjust the pH during the winter.
These tests will reveal the following information:
- soil pH
- levels of potassium (K), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S)
- the level of organic matter
- lead content
This analysis will tell you how much lime and (organic) fertilizer to add to improve the quality of your soil.
Indeed, lime is commonly used to adjust soil pH.
Fall is the best time to put lime in because lime has all winter to dissolve into the ground.
Other nutrients can be added in the spring at planting time. To test your soil, here is a very easy to use kit.
To be able to harvest garlic next year, plant it now.
Choose a place in the vegetable garden where you have not yet planted garlic so as not to exhaust the soil.
Mix a good amount of compost into the soil and add some organic fertilizer.
Then, plant bulbs spaced 15 cm apart to about ten cm deep.
Add a light layer of mulch at planting time and re-mulch after the first frosts.
The bulbs are dormant and will sprout as soon as the heat returns.
To discover: No More Need to Buy Garlic! Here's How To Grow An Infinite Stock Of It At Home.
Fall is the perfect time to expand your vegetable garden.
Prepare new strips of land or build a few additional vegetable plots.
Many garden centers sell bags of potting soil with fertilizer at this time.
Fill your new squares with it and simply add a layer of mulch on top.
All you have to do is plant your seeds next spring.
To discover: How To Make Seed Ribbon With Toilet Paper (Easy And Cheap).
Dead leaves are a gold mine for gardeners!
I try to pick up as much as possible in the fall and fill my compost bins or store them in garbage bags.
Autumn leaves can be used for mulching in the garden, as a brown (carbon) component of compost, or as potting soil.
Here are 3 ways to reuse dead leaves:
- In mulch: a generous layer of shredded leaf mulch on the surface of the soil helps smother weeds, retain moisture, and enrich the soil as it decomposes, while encouraging beneficial organisms to hide there.
- In compost: the leaves are a perfect brown component for your compost pile. I keep an extra bin available so that I can add a layer in the compost bin if there is too much nitrogen (kitchen waste). This keeps the compost perfectly balanced.
- In potting soil: over time, the leaves collected in piles or compost break down into rich humus that can be incorporated into your soil to improve structure and moisture-holding capacity. They also provide fertilizer and food for organisms that live in the soil.
One of the easiest ways to collect and mulch leaves is to use your lawn mower with or without a bagger.
If you use a bagger, the mower mulches grass and leaves at the same time. Perfect for compost.
Even if you don't have a bagger on your mower, you can direct the side stream to gather up ragged leaves and grass piles.
Then pick up the pile and fill your compost bin. Or put them in garbage bags.
Know that you can also use a simple piece of cardboard to collect all the dead leaves. Check out the trick here.
To discover: 3 Uses for Fallen Leaves Nobody Knows About.
As you clean up your vegetable patch, take notes for next year.
What should you take note of? For example, the number of plants grown, the varieties that performed well and the amount harvested.
But also what pests you have had to deal with this year or if there has been a place in the garden that has not produced much compared to the others.
Write down all of this important information while it's still fresh in your mind.
The interest? It will help you better organize the vegetable garden for next year and it will give you time to look for solutions to the problems you may have encountered.
Take the time to enjoy the cool, balmy days of fall while you work in the garden.
The absence of humidity makes outdoor work more comfortable. Observe the beauty around you, the colors and appreciate the softness of the sun.
Take a deep breath and enjoy the aromas of the soil. Soon everything will be covered with frost until spring.
Also clean the flowerbeds in the fall so that they will be beautiful at the beginning of the following spring.
The vegetable garden will be ready to be planted. Simply mulch, pull weeds, and adjust the amount of organic fertilizer based on last year's results and soil analysis.
Put your seeds in the ground (especially spring flower bulbs) and transplant the plants into the garden.
During the winter, you will have plenty of time to dream and plan next year's vegetable garden.
Have you tried these tips to prepare your vegetable garden for winter? Let us know in the comments if it worked for you. We can't wait to read you!
