Garden season has come to an end for 2024. You’ve dreamed, you’ve toiled, you’ve harvested, and now it’s time to rest. Or so you think.
Despite the plants turning brown and vines drying up, it may not be time to say goodbye to your garden just yet. Let me ask you a couple questions…
Have you sat on your porch with a glass of iced tea and reviewed your garden season’s successes and failures?
What crops did well and which ones didn’t?
What crops did you try and want to grow again or which ones were a waste of time?
Most people start planning for next year’s garden when it’s cold outside and the seed catalogs start arriving in the mail with all those awesome pictures. While that’s not a bad plan, I’m going to suggest a few things to help prepare the ground for better plant health and definitely larger harvests.
First off, your soil worked hard for you this year. It most likely used up a vast portion of the nutrients that were available. Those nutrients MUST be replaced! If your garden didn’t produce well, my guess it those nutrients were never there to begin with. Now is the time to change that!
Fall is the best time to do a soil test. There is more time to amend pH levels or mineral deficiencies (like N-P-K) if needed. Don’t forget the all important trace minerals too. (like boron, magnesium, etc…)
Here’s a few easy tips:
Add lime to raise acid
Add sulfur to raise alkaline
Add manure/compost and soil amendments to raise mineral
Fall also has the benefit of naturally providing some of the things needed for these amendments. Fallen leaves chopped up thru the mower will provide a rich amendment when composted thru the winter. Grass clippings too! Even those pesky weeds, when properly composted, are valuable. WARNING! Be sure to not use diseased plants or cuttings!
Next, plan and prep ahead for gardening planning. Always keep in mind to rotate crops. Never plant the same type of vegetable (with the same botanical family name) in the same spot year after year.
If you have prepared the soil ahead of time, plants will have a head start to producing.
Here are just a few examples:
Carrots- cover area with leaves/leaf mold and mulch into soil. Then re-cover with another layer and leave for winter breakdown. You should see a dramatic difference in next year’s crop.
Cabbage family crops- If you had trouble with club root, add lime or wood ash to the area to raise the pH.
Acid loving plants- work in peat moss, pine needles, or saw dust to have plenty of time to break down.
Asparagus- Heavy feeder so apply minimum of 1 inch of rich compost to bed and cover with a heavy layer to protect roots from freezing.
Plant cover crops like rye, buckwheat, crimson clover, oats, wheat, cowpeas, soybeans, and millet in next year’s garden area. This will naturally add key microbes and nutrients through the winter. Leave your garden covered with some sort of mulch or cover crop over winter to keep soil from freezing as soon as harvest and clean up are finished. This will help worms, microbes etc… remain active longer and will make soil easier to work in spring.
One more little nugget. People have asked me if they should burn off their garden each fall.
Yes and No. It is a good, easy practice to prevent weeds from coming back next year but it also burns up the nitrogen that remains there. Nitro is one of the big three elements plants need. So if you burn off, BE SURE to add nitrogen back into the soil before planting in the Spring!
Hope this helps! Till next time, May God Bless Your Family!
Mike