Garden Topics:
Vegetable Garden Fall Clean Up
I have mixed emotions about the end of the growing season. In
some way, it's a relief from dealing with watering, weeds and
pests. But it's hard not to feel a pang of sadness when the
first frost arrives bringing near the end of another gardening
year.
There are a few things that should be done before
really cold weather arrives. One of the more important ones is
to tuck in your garden for the winter so it'll awaken ready to
go in the spring. We've all faced a spring garden that's still
littered with dead plants and drifts of fallen leaves, and it's
not an encouraging sight. A couple of hours spent now will make
your garden a healthier and more enticing place in the spring.
Dead plants and even small piles of garden waste provide
hiding places where harmful insects will live. Bare soil will
heave or erode, losing plant nutrients in the process. Plant
tepees and tomato supports, will deteriorate, so remove them and
store them away.
This is the best time to take a few soil samples and send
them to the Penn State testing lab for a nutrient analysis. Call
the County Cooperative Extension office for a soil test kit.
(For Allegheny County call 412-473-2540) When you get the
results, purchase the needed soil amendments, and apply them so
they can slowly work into the soil over the winter.
Remove spent plants, roots and all, and add them to the compost
pile. Next is a really important step: spread two or more
inches of compost over the garden. (Fafard’s Shrimp & Seaweed
Compost works well for this purpose) You can incorporate needed
fertilizer or lime, (that recommended in the soil test results)
with the compost. Scratch it into the top couple of inches of
soil.
Finally, cover your garden about an inch or two
deep of clean straw. If you have a windy site, wet the straw
thoroughly with a hose or sprinkler so it mats down.
Stand
back and admire your neatly blanketed garden. The compost and
soil nutrients will work their magic over the next few months,
and by the time the first seed catalogs arrive, the soil will be
ready for next season's plants.
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