Misc Putting the Garden to Sleep for the Winter

[packyderms_wife]

MODS: There really needs to be a garden and/or plants prefix in this forum.

Sooooooo with the first freeze of the season upon us what is everyone doing to their gardens?

Do you mulch your gardens, and if so with what? The leaves are still on the trees here right now. I can go to the city and pick some "free" mulch but that's pretty much a pig in a poke cause you never know what you will get.

I cleared off the dead debris this afternoon and cut stray trees out of various herb and flower beds.

I'm trying to get as much done now so that next spring I can plant earlier than we did this year (mid July). We have one raised bed left to move into the back yard, where we now have adequate sun light 6-8 hours a day.

 

[kyrsyan]

I'm not putting them to sleep. I've been putting in cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and onions. I may do peas and beets as well. Oh, I forgot, and winter greens, lettuce, spinach and mache. I'm debating a bed of peas as well. I'm looking forward to the late winter/early spring harvests.

When I do put them "to sleep" for winter, I add thick layers of compost/manure and then mulch heavily after I've pulled out the dead plants and roots.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I'm not putting them to sleep. I've been putting in cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and onions. I may do peas and beets as well. Oh, I forgot, and winter greens, lettuce, spinach and mache. I'm debating a bed of peas as well. I'm looking forward to the late winter/early spring harvests.

When I do put them "to sleep" for winter, I add thick layers of compost/manure and then mulch heavily after I've pulled out the dead plants and roots.

Where are you at that you are planting these now? I have one hoop house, need to get the vent in it, for one of my raised beds. I'd love to get it going with some winter greens but am not sure which ones to try. Suggestions.

 

[kyrsyan]

N. AL/S. TN

Get Elliot Coleman's book Four Season Harvest. He does year round in Maine. There are some great ideas in there. I've used them when I lived further north and adapted them for here.

 

[kyrsyan]

Oh, I got winter hardy lettuce and spinach from Fedco. They might have a greens mix as well.

 

[kyrsyan]

Okay. I had a better response earlier but an accidental tap on my phone's back button erased it.

Most greens will do well through winter if protected. Even here I have to provide protection for them. Although I am experimenting with the winter hardy versions to see if I can back off of that a bit. Most root crops provide yummy greens as well. And they do well through winter for a spring harvest. Even in your area, you should be able to start root crops at the end of summer and leave them through the winter with just a bit of care. Then you'll have some to harvest throughout, and a large harvest early in the spring. This will clear space in your beds for less cold hardy plants through the summer. One of the trick I use is a "cut and come again" greens bed. I overseed and then only pick the outermost leaves as the plants grow. This allows seed to continually sprout in the newly cleared spaces. And the older plants continue to grow, providing fresh new leaves. Every once in while, when I need a large batch, I go through and thin the bed out some.

Given your area, Four Season Harvest will have more ideas for you than it did for me here. Here some of those ideas would cook my plants in their beds. But I used them when I was further north and have subsequently altered them.

An idea that some acquaintances and I experimented with years back, and that I still use, is juice bottles painted black and filled with water. You can use them unpainted but you get two to three degrees more warmth if they are painted. These make fabulous portable thermal mass. I use them in small greenhouses, hoop houses, and under impromptu bell jars. Oh, heck, occasionally I just make a circle of them around a plant that needs just a hair extra protection. It makes a much sturdier "wall of water". They help provide warmth longer into the night and stabilize the temps some. But the hoop house will have to be able to at least stay warm enough to keep them from freezing. And, something I haven't tried, maybe add some antifreeze to the bottles. But if you do so, make sure they are very, very well sealed. Anyways, you can make these from just about any size plastic bottle. I tend to stick w/ the 2 quart size but have been known to use 20 oz bottles as well.

This year the repaired greenhouses will have a one foot layer of tamped wood mulch, and then a bunch of these bottles. I'm hoping to be able to keep the more tender perennials in them this year and then try citrus again next year.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Okay. I had a better response earlier but an accidental tap on my phone's back button erased it.

Most greens will do well through winter if protected. Even here I have to provide protection for them. Although I am experimenting with the winter hardy versions to see if I can back off of that a bit. Most root crops provide yummy greens as well. And they do well through winter for a spring harvest. Even in your area, you should be able to start root crops at the end of summer and leave them through the winter with just a bit of care. Then you'll have some to harvest throughout, and a large harvest early in the spring. This will clear space in your beds for less cold hardy plants through the summer. One of the trick I use is a "cut and come again" greens bed. I overseed and then only pick the outermost leaves as the plants grow. This allows seed to continually sprout in the newly cleared spaces. And the older plants continue to grow, providing fresh new leaves. Every once in while, when I need a large batch, I go through and thin the bed out some.

Given your area, Four Season Harvest will have more ideas for you than it did for me here. Here some of those ideas would cook my plants in their beds. But I used them when I was further north and have subsequently altered them.

An idea that some acquaintances and I experimented with years back, and that I still use, is juice bottles painted black and filled with water. You can use them unpainted but you get two to three degrees more warmth if they are painted. These make fabulous portable thermal mass. I use them in small greenhouses, hoop houses, and under impromptu bell jars. Oh, heck, occasionally I just make a circle of them around a plant that needs just a hair extra protection. It makes a much sturdier "wall of water". They help provide warmth longer into the night and stabilize the temps some. But the hoop house will have to be able to at least stay warm enough to keep them from freezing. And, something I haven't tried, maybe add some antifreeze to the bottles. But if you do so, make sure they are very, very well sealed. Anyways, you can make these from just about any size plastic bottle. I tend to stick w/ the 2 quart size but have been known to use 20 oz bottles as well.

This year the repaired greenhouses will have a one foot layer of tamped wood mulch, and then a bunch of these bottles. I'm hoping to be able to keep the more tender perennials in them this year and then try citrus again next year.

I'll check out the books, I have some wall of waters, will have to dig those out, and use bottles for everything else.

 

[Martinhouse]

I usually don't bother to clean my garden in the fall. My chicken run is part of the whole garden structure, so I just open the connecting door once the garden is finished for the year, and the chickens grind up all the dead plants over the winter, and fertilize the ground besides.

I do remove any badly diseased plants beforehand so the disease doesn't get spread around the garden.

 

[kyrsyan]

Don't forget to leave some expansion room in the bottles. Especially if you decide to try the antifreeze in them. Otherwise, even in plastic, they will break. And milk jug plastic doesn't hold up for this. It typically starts to fall apart within a few months. Much to my disgust when I tried using the large cooking oil jugs.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I usually don't bother to clean my garden in the fall. My chicken run is part of the whole garden structure, so I just open the connecting door once the garden is finished for the year, and the chickens grind up all the dead plants over the winter, and fertilize the ground besides.

I do remove any badly diseased plants beforehand so the disease doesn't get spread around the garden.

If I had chickens I'd do this as well. If we can get our lawn, and drive way under control I may be able to carve out a spot for two or three hens, probably three, but I wouldn't need more than that here in town.

 

[Martinhouse]

Just wandered around in my garden and saw a lot of huge weeds like lambsquarter and some sort of a large mint-like plant. Couple of pokeweeds, too. I think I will go out tomorrow and stomp them all over sideways so the chickens can strip the seeds off of them.

 

[ioujc]

What we usually do is place a layer of cardboard down over the raised beds, which are still about 1& 1/2 foot full of rich dirt. Then I add a layer of newspaper and then a THICK layer of horse manure. By spring this has all rotted down to just kind of a mush and the manure has gone cold from all the paper, so it is ready to plant. The worms are drawn upward some by the paper and cardboard layer and have FILLED the bed with BIG, FAT worms to continue to work the soil! In the spring I might have to cut through the cardboard, but this is easy to do, as ti is very soft and flimsy by then.
Th8is year I have the cardboard and newspaper ready, but have not gotten the trailer load and truck loads of horse hockey yet...need to do that by NEXT weekend at the LATEST!!

 

[kyrsyan]

What we usually do is place a layer of cardboard down over the raised beds, which are still about 1& 1/2 foot full of rich dirt. Then I add a layer of newspaper and then a THICK layer of horse manure. By spring this has all rotted down to just kind of a mush and the manure has gone cold from all the paper, so it is ready to plant. The worms are drawn upward some by the paper and cardboard layer and have FILLED the bed with BIG, FAT worms to continue to work the soil! In the spring I might have to cut through the cardboard, but this is easy to do, as ti is very soft and flimsy by then.
Th8is year I have the cardboard and newspaper ready, but have not gotten the trailer load and truck loads of horse hockey yet...need to do that by NEXT weekend at the LATEST!!

I was really ready to do this with a few of the beds this year. I run a newspaper route and end up with a ton of paper for recycling. Unfortunately the clutch went out on my truck and I don't have the funds to fix it anytime soon. So I'm having to make so with piles of grass clippings and leaves.

 

[Brass Scrounger]

I go through the town where I work and pick up bags of leaves that folks put at the curb for trash pickup. I usually end up with 2-3 hundred bags of leaves. I then spread out over the garden and till under. The leaves are gone by the spring when it is time to plant.

Brass

 

[Illini Warrior]

I go through the town where I work and pick up bags of leaves that folks put at the curb for trash pickup. I usually end up with 2-3 hundred bags of leaves. I then spread out over the garden and till under. The leaves are gone by the spring when it is time to plant.

Brass

if you really want to make friends - take the leaves and give back the bags - they cost $3 each around here ....