Winter is approaching, fall is well underway, and summer has come to an end. In order to ensure that the garden beds are ready for planting as soon as the weather warms up again in the spring, it is time to begin preparing my garden for winter on my farm in northern Wisconsin. This labor-intensive but crucial operation takes place now.
Nowadays, I plant almost exclusively on raised beds since they have a neat appearance, aid in weed management, and make it easy to distinguish between different plant species. Additionally, raised garden beds provide exact control over the soil's composition. However, that control might require more work getting them ready for the winter.
Depending on where you reside, the exact steps you take to prepare seasonal garden beds for winter may differ. However, the next four stages ought to be beneficial in a variety of circumstances.
1. Remove all plants and fruit
The best place to start is by clearing out the mattresses. Start by removing large objects, such as stems and leaves. To decrease the likelihood of illnesses and pests overwintering on decaying material, think about removing complete plants (roots and all).
Remember to pick up any fruit that has fallen as well. I've found that if you leave fallen tomatoes where they fall, you'll get a crop of haphazard volunteer tomato seedlings the next spring.
2. Modify the Soil Constituents
Before winter, you could want to modify the soil composition, especially if you're taking care of raised garden beds. I occasionally discover during a growing season that I applied too much compost and not enough topsoil to a raised bed, or the opposite.
Over the course of a season, you may determine whether your plants are battling to develop through tight soil or to retain moisture in loose soil. Corrective action is best done in the autumn.
3. Mulch & Add Nutrients
Consider adding compost, grass clippings, shredded leaves, etc. at the same time you modify the soil's composition to give the soil a general nutrient boost. If your soil is deficient in any particular thing, a soil test will help you identify it so you can add the right amendment to make up for it.
Mulching soil for the winter is also advantageous since it prevents erosion and blocks the worst of the winter cold. A nice covering of organic mulch may both nourish your soil and act as a sort of weed barrier in the spring.
4. Mark the beds with what you grew there.
Crop rotation is essential to prevent a bed from being drained of the nutrients required to develop a particular plant. Additionally, you shouldn't expect that you will remember what you grew in each bed from one year to the next.
To record the plants you cultivated in each bed, think about making a chart or map. You can then use it as a guide the following spring when you begin planting. Or, if you have raised garden beds and are worried about losing your map (it happens), label each bed individually with paint or an outside marker.
Garden beds need to be prepared for the winter, but just think, they'll be ready to go right away in the spring. Vegetables from your garden may be harvested earlier than normal.