my garden looks like the compost pile escaped
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If you drove past my house right now, you'd swear my compost piles broke loose and scattered themselves across the garden. Spent fava bean plants lie in heaps on an empty bed. Rhubarb leaves slump over their crowns like soggy umbrellas. The strawberry patch is slowly melting into a brown, crunchy blanket. I know, it looks like I quit halfway through cleanup—but that mess is doing a LOT of work. Bare soil takes a beating over winter and if you don't cover it with something, nature does the job with weeds. Over the season, rain can also wash away topsoil, freeze-thaw cycles can heave and crack it, and the microbes and earthworms you fed all year are left with nothing to eat. Raised beds have it even worse, since they're exposed on every side. (Great for warming up fast in spring, but not so great in January.) So instead of yanking everything out, I cut my plants at the soil line and leave the roots to rot in place. The healthy foliage gets tossed right back on the bed as free winter mulch. By spring, the roots have left behind little channels for air, water, and worms. The rest of my list is less messy. I put away trellises and stakes, drain the drip lines, and check my low tunnel hoops for anything that got wonky. (Mine did, probably because my kids love to hang on them like monkey bars. 🤦🏻‍♀️ One side of a bed is sinking, too.) ​Here's everything I leave, pull, add, put away, and check to winterize my raised beds.​ I don't know if the season's already transitioned where you are, but as I'm writing this (the night before), there's a storm brewin' outside and it really feels like winter is coming! Seasonal tipsWeekend fall flash saleI just got this in my email: Trees.com (the online nursery where I've bought several fruit trees) is running a fall flash sale this weekend only. Now through November 16, they're having a sitewide sale up to 50% off PLUS you can stack an extra 20% off on top of those deals with code SAVE20. I wonder if my husband will let me store a few things in the garage or under the carport until spring. 🤣 P.S. Planning to top your beds with compost this fall? A 3-inch layer on a 4x8-foot bed takes about 8 cubic feet, and it does double duty as winter mulch while rain, snowmelt, and earthworms work it into the soil for you. P.P.S. Most of this list has a deadline: the day your soil freezes. Bloomcast, my weather dashboard for gardeners, tracks soil temps for your location and flags when the ground is likely to freeze, so you know when to drain the drip lines and get the garlic mulched. It's included with Garden Betty Plus. |
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