Get the Best Improvement for Your Garden Next Spring
Friday, November 12, 2010 7:47When autumn is coming, this is the best time to start improving your soil’s condition for next summer’s garden season. The first and foremost thing to do is to pile leaves on your garden. Dig them in lightly with a shovel afterwards, and water everything down well. The leaves will mold and rot over winter into a great soil enrichment by spring planting time.
Not many people know that autumn is a great time to get a cover crop started before snow sets in for the winter. It may not grow too much this fall, but it will be set and really take off in the spring when the weather starts to warm up. Some great cover crops to plant in the fall include, winter barley, clover, buckwheat, oats, hairy vetch, and field peas. If you can’t get them in the ground now, don’t worry, you can still get an early start in the spring. Next spring mow your cover crop a couple times before turning it into the soil and continuing with your spring garden planting. Above and beyond, improving your soil a winter cover crop helps prevent erosion, feeds important soil organisms through the winter, and helps suppress weeds. Most importantly a cover crop can add valuable nitrogen to your soil that will help your summer garden grow.
If you have a pile of compost you’ve been cooking all summer, it is now the best time to add it to your garden. The winter freezes and thaws will help work the compost into the soil. If you empty it out now your compost bin will be ready