This simple collections of tips of how to prep your garden for the winter will help you protect the foundation of gardening… healthy soil.
Putting the garden to bed for the winter is mostly a matter of cleaning up and covering up so the soil nutrients can be preserved until the spring. Be sure to clear away dead stems and foliage from annual flowers and vegetables to prevent the possibility of their harboring disease pathogens and insect eggs over the winter.
Leaves are a valuable natural resource for your homestead garden in the winter time by helping to build healthy soil. When mixed into exhausted soil, as they decompose they create air spaces in the soil and improves the soil’s ability to absorb moisture. As leaves break down, they improve the soil’s fertility by creating a population of active microbes.
Leaves are a favorite food of earthworms, which convert the leaves into nutrient-rich castings that are distributed throughout the soil.
Having a garden takes some work especially when it’s just starting out, but the very possession of a garden can bring such joy not to mention homegrown foods for our tables. A person with a desire to grow produce, herbs, spices, or just flowering plants for beauty has to put it to bed for the Winter. One of the best parts of owning a garden is that you don’t need tons of space to make your garden work for you and your family’s needs. A little creativity and you can have a small, workable garden whether you live in a tiny apartment or live on hundreds of acres of land.
With that garden, you can plant anything you want, granted some plants will do better than others in your current ecological climate, but even that can be worked around if needed. With all gardens, you’ll want to consider the method you’ll want to incorporate to winterize it so your soil can be prepared for the next season’s planting while also receiving a boost to your soil to make the next planting season a great one. How can you do this? Well, it’s easy really with options for covering your soil. You can choose from compost, mulch, or even a top seed or you can create a combination of these three for this purpose.
The whole idea is to protect your soil while also feeding it the nutrients it’ll need to feed your next set of plants and nourish them throughout the next season.
Click here to read about How To Prep Your Garden For The Winter:
http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/09/winter-garden-clean-up.html
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