What if you have decided not to plant this fall and to allow your garden plot to rest over the winter?
How to winterize your vegetable garden is summed up in 4 steps:
1. Clean
2. Cultivate
3. Compost
4. Cover
1. Clean up. Remove all the debris from summer crops. Please put plant material in the proper area at the garden.
2. Cultivate. Use a rake to remove smaller debris and turn the soil. Use the tiller to deeply work the ground and turn under the remaining plant residue. Debris removal prevents pests from taking hold in your garden.
3. Compost and amendments. Rebuild your soil for spring. Mx in a 3” to 4” layer of compost. Add
organic amendments that will release nutrients slowly over the winter months, to ensure they’ll be
available to your plants next spring. Examples include Kelp meal, greensand or bone meal.
4. Cover. Protect your garden soil with mulch. Spread a thick layer of grass clippings, compost, salt marsh hay, or other organic material over your garden bed. Other options include planting a cover crop such as clover or winter rye or covering your plot with heavy black plastic.