What are your plans for your garden over the winter? Are you planning to let your garden rest over the winter, or do you plan on having a winter harvest? Either way, there are plenty of things you can do now to keep your garden healthy over the winter.
No matter what you intend to do with your garden, there are some essential things you should do before winter, with its freezing temperatures arrives. Here are five tasks to complete:
Add Soil Amendments
When you’re prepping for winter, the time is right to add soil amendments like fertilizer, organic material, and minerals. These amendments improve your soil and prepare your garden for a bumper crop in the spring.
- Take Care of the Weeds
If you leave perennial weeds alone through the winter, they will firmly establish their roots and come back stronger than ever in the spring. Take the time to pull them now before they become a bigger problem.
- Add Mulch
Mulching does a lot for your garden. Mulching keeps nutrients from washing away with the rain and snow that hit your garden. It also protects beneficial microorganisms from freezing temperatures. You can mulch with many different materials, but dead leaves are a great, free resource that most of us have plenty of.
- Get Rid of Dead Plants
For plants that have died because of natural processes, you can chop them up and leave them right where they are or send them to your compost bin. Either way, you can use them later to feed your soil. You should burn or throw out any plans with signs of disease or pest infestation.
- Protect Winter Crops
If you’re growing crops during the winter, it’s essential to protect your growing plants from subzero temperatures. You can use anything from bedsheets to plastic tarps to cover your garden. Use stakes to leave an air space between your plans and the material.
No matter your winter gardening plans, taking the time to prep your soil ahead of time is an essential part of having a successful garden in the winter or the spring.