How to Put Your Garden to Bed for the Winter

The last of the harvest is done and fall has officially arrived. Yet there are still a few things you need to do before you walk away from that garden space until spring. By doing these things, your garden will be healthier when it comes time to do spring planting.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Tiller
• Fertilizer
• Seed for Cover Crop

1. Pull any remaining vegetable plants that are left in the garden and place them in the compost heap.
2. Till the entire garden to turn under any weeds and to break up the soil.
3. Wait two or three days and till again. This will force any insect larvae or eggs to the surface. By exposing them to the cooler temperatures, the chance of their survival is minimal.
4. Fertilize the entire garden. Fertilizer can be compost, manure or commercial fertilizer. Till again.
5. Plant a cover crop. This can be wheat, oats, flax or some species of legumes. This helps prevent erosion and keeps the ground from packing tight.

Tips & Warnings

• In the spring, harvest your cover crop if you wish. Otherwise, till it under to replace nutrients back into the soil.
• If you don’t plant a cover crop, till the garden space several times over the winter to keep the soil loose.
• You should till your garden space several times in the early spring. This will help reduce the insect population by freezing any buried eggs or larvae.
• A second application of fertilizer can be added to the garden approximately two weeks before the first planting date.