how to nurse your soil back to health over winter
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I just finished tidying my garden beds this week, replacing worn-out frost covers with new ones and cutting back my rhubarb, lovage, and other perennials that had gone a little too wild. As I'm rooting around in my beds, I can tell the soil is a bit tired. I've got weeds sneaking their way into now-empty spaces, the soil level has gone down a couple inches and I grew some BIG tomato and zucchini plants this summer, so I'm sure those beds could use a good feeding. I usually let half my garden rest over winter (while the other half is planted with perennials and overwintering crops). I use the time to "nurse" my soil back to health so when spring rolls around, those beds are ready to be planted again. (And I don't have to fuss with the soil during an already busy time in the garden.) Seasonal tipsMushroom foraging!Last weekend, I finally had the opportunity to go mushroom foraging. 🍄🟫 I've been wanting to learn how for a long time, and my cousins (who were in town for Halloween, and who'd just come from foraging a ton of mushrooms in Washington on their way down) took our whole fam to a spot in Central Oregon that they wanted to investigate. We've had a few freezes here so we weren't sure if we'd find any matsutakes at this point in the season. We planned the outing as "just a nice hike" with low expectations of finding anything. But within 30 feet of where we parked, we found our first matsutakes! We ended up foraging 10 pounds of matsutake mushrooms and a few white chanterelles, and the kids, especially, were hooked. (I liked to joke that it was easy for them since they're lower to the ground and could spot all the mushrooms poking up out of the forest duff. 😆) It was a really fun and fascinating experience and we ended up processing all the mushrooms at home until midnight (most of them sliced, vacuum-sealed, and frozen, with about 3 pounds of matsutakes turned into quick pickles). This also made me wonder how many edible mushrooms I've passed on all my hikes in the past, not knowing what they were. (Matsutakes are typically found near sugar sticks, and I've seen a lot of those these past few months.) I'm excited to learn more in the coming year! P.S. Here are 3 easy ways to nurse your garden soil back to health over winter. P.P.S. Do you know what to do with all your dead plants at the end of the season? Nope, don't pull them out. Don't even dig up the roots. I share exactly what I do in my garden every year—using my signature "lazy gardening" method—in my online course Lazy Gardening Academy. This course is full of smart tips and techniques for getting more out of your garden by doing less work. And the best time to start is actually in fall, when you can start building up your soil before letting nature take over. Check it out here. |
Garden Betty
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