4-2-13 Putting the beds to sleep for the winter

A look at the garden at the end of December 2012

Little garden

                                                                       Little garden

                                                            Though now you lay to rest

                                                   Compost leaching with each gentle rain

                                                   So in the spring you will show your best

                                                       I feel you bunching ‘neath the soil

                                                              Stretching … soon to rise

                                                    When skies of gray turn blue and warm

                                                             And winter northward flies

                                                         You always bring to me a smile

                                                                Each time I check anew

                                                     For start of growth and budding green

                                                            For all you give … thank you.

                                                             Duane Clancy  2013-01-09

Hey guys!

     I know it’s been a long time since the last post.  Bad … bad Duane!  Life seems to run it’s own course and tends to leave many things by the wayside.  The garden did very well in the 2012 season despite the hot, dry conditions.  I guess we must be doing something right after all.

     I started writing this in the late fall but got a little distracted by the world and life and family and finances … nothing that stopped our processes, but I was side-tracked enough to cut way-way back on the writing.  Anyway, here’s the post-post-season post.

Putting the beds to sleep for the winter

     There are many people that believe that once the growing season is over, then gardening is done for the year.  I tend to be one of those “all year” gardeners though.  There are many perennial plants in the garden that will need some attention through the winter, and the off season is the best time to establish nutrients in your beds for the explosion of growth in the spring.

     As soon as a bed is harvested, the bed needs to be turned over and broken up again.  This allows you to see what is happening in your dirt at the root level and you can see and eliminate any pupa stages of moths and any grubs and cut-worms that are sneaking around in your soil.

     This is also the best time to ensure that all weed roots are removed from the soil.  It doesn’t take rhizome grasses very long to establish a foothold and with the depth of fertile soil in the beds, those pesky roots can send out runners pretty deep.

     After the bed is broken up and leveled again, this is a wonderful time to add a topping of compost.  A topping of fertile manure compost will help to keep new weed seeds from getting a start.  Most of the time, when a seed tries to start in too fertile soil, it burns itself out very quickly.  This fertile compost will leach into the soil of the bed over the course of the off season every time it rains, or when a snow melts.  By the time spring gardening season begins, there will be a nice layer of “ready to grow soil” on the top of the beds.

     When you are ready to plant the bed, all you will have to do is to chop in (mix) the top several inches of compost and soil, smooth it out, and plant.  The soil should have everything it will need to assist the new seeds and transplants in getting a great start without having to compete with anything that is already established in the beds and without having to add any additional fertilizer in the form of new compost.

     Another good thing that happens, using this system, is you will notice the influx of red worms in the soil.  The worms are attracted to the loose fertile soil in the bed and the fertile compost calls them in and gives them food and a warmer place to stay over the winter.  The drainage in the soil helps the worms to survive and thrive without drowning.

     Worm castings (worm poop) is the most “plant ready” form of fertilizer known.  By giving them a place to thrive over the winter, you are developing an eco-system in your soil that will do more for your spring garden than anything else you can do.

     The worms will burrow tunnels deep into the soil and allow for better drainage as well as allowing more air into the soil.  They also help keep the soil looser for the development of a larger array of plant roots.  A plant can only grow to a size that can be supported by it’s roots … by helping your soil and roots, you will get a wonderful return of larger, healthier, more prolific, and more productive plants.

     If you didn’t get a chance to do these things in the late fall, it’s still ok to do all these things now … or whenever you get the chance.  By building your soil, you are building your future garden.  Anything you can do now to make your soil better will help your garden to be better.

Happy Spring!!!  Get dirty ...

… Duane