Posted by homegardenaub in March 1, 2010
Taking care of the health of next year’s vegetable garden is one of the most important, and often neglected, gardener chores. Prepare your vegetable beds this fall by clearing out dead plants, turn in some nice old compost for soil regeneration, and even plant some early spring crops this fall.
Begin by taking all old leaves and plant debris off of your garden to prevent insects from overwintering in your garden. A nice hiding place for insects, such as squash bugs, grasshoppers, and aphids is under old leaves on the soil surface. If you clear out old leaves and stems and compost them, insects have nowhere to hide. Reduced debris on the soil surface will ensure freezing temperatures for insects on the soil surface, and as a result will help control next year’s insect population.
Disease Free: Leaf and vegetable litter provides a place for other problems to reside also, such as tomato wilt. Collecting and throwing away diseased plants in the garbage or landfill will help keep diseases from reestablishing themselves next season. Many gardeners had difficulty with tomato blight, or wilt this past year. If this was the case in your garden, it is especially important to clear off all plants and fruits from this past season. Most spores from the tomato wilt will be thrown away with the plants and fruit.
Garden bed preparation: Spreading one to two inches of well-decomposed compost on the surface of your garden bed should be your next step. Turn your compost into the soil well. Soil organisms will have time over the winter to decompose this material and distribute nutrients to the soil for next year’s vegetables.
You can plant some early spring vegetables for early harvest in the spring after preparing your soil bed. These seeds will not germinate until soil temperatures warm enough for them to grow. Sowing spinach seeds, and planting your first couple rows of peas will allow for the earliest harvest. Garlic should be planted in the late fall, also, and should be planted in a drier bed than your peas and spinach.
No one ever said gardening is easy, but spending a little time preparing your garden beds this fall can help you reap big rewards with next year’s garden!
Betsy Woodworth gives help on gardening and on greenhouse advice.
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