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Step 1
Harvest the last of your vegetables. Tender plants such as tomatoes and okra will produce beyond the first hard frost. Cool weather crops such as spinach and broccoli will tolerate cooler temperatures and can be harvested later, according to Diane Relf, an environmental horticulture specialist writing for the Virginia Tech Extension. Remove garden stakes and trellises. Clean and store them for the next season.
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Step 2
Prepare perennials and overwintering vegetables. Cut back perennial vegetables such as asparagus and rhubarb and overwintering vegetables such as garlic, beets and carrots. Mark the location of these vegetables so they will be easy to find when you begin to work the vegetable bed next spring. Cover the vegetables with 8 inches of mulch to protect them from the elements.
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Step 3
Clean up the garden. Remove weeds and debris. Annual vegetable plants can be tilled into the soil as fertilizer or removed for composting. Plants with signs of disease or insect infestation should be discarded. If your community permits burning, the ashes from this plant debris can be spread in the garden for additional fertilizer.
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Step 4
Amend the soil. Spread at least 2 inches of compost over the top of the bed. Use a rototiller to work the compost into the soil to a depth of 6 inches. This adds nutrients to the soil that will benefit your plants next spring, according to Diane Relf, the environmental horticulture specialist. She said plowing last season's annuals into the soil also adds nutrients and offers the additional benefit of improving soil structure.
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Step 5
Plant a cover crop. Gardeners who choose to grow cover crops find that the practice helps prevent winter soil erosion and adds additional nutrients to the soil. Beneficial crops include vetch, crimson clover, fava beans and annual grasses. Contact your local extension service to determine the best type for your area. Sow seeds between August and November to allow the crop to show some growth before the first hard frost.
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Step 6
Mulch the vegetable bed as an alternative to growing a cover crop. Creating a mulch of compost, plant waste, grass clippings or leaves provides nutrition for the soil and can be tilled in next spring. To avoid delayed planting in spring, chop the mulch into fine particles. This will allow it to break down over the winter and will permit the soil to warm earlier than a thick mulch.
