Begin building a better base for all your veggies, flowers and herbs now so you'll have a healthier, fertile garden next spring.
Fall is a great time to do some soil prep and soil protection and you can do it in five steps.
Here are five ways to love your soil:
Don't dig! Digging into the soil disturbs the microbes. By not digging, you鈥檙e helping the atmosphere. By sequestering carbon, you're not releasing it into the atmosphere. You're preserving the root systems, too, and creating more fertile soil.
So when you're getting your gardens ready to put to bed for the season, don鈥檛 dig. Instead, cut the plants off at the soil line.
If the plants were healthy, go ahead and chop and drop. If they had some plant diseases, chop the plant and remove it.
But don't dig up or turn that soil and when in doubt, find more helpful information in Charlie Nardozzi's No-Dig Gardening book.
Leave the roots alone! Even if the plants were diseased - unless it's really clear that it was a root-borne disease - just cut that plant at the soil line and remove it. The soil will slowly break down roots and microbes.
By not interfering with the roots, you鈥檒l also create a great habitat earthworms, beetles and things to roam around.
Keep it covered! Chopped leaves, grass clippings, hay or straw all make great cover for your garden beds. Lay it on and leave it right through the season.
Layer it up! Create layers of material (see above!) and then create more layers by adding compost on top. Adding compost to your layers of grass clippings, chopped leaves hay and straw will create a fertile, rich soil by the spring so you can plant right through it.
Don't step on it! Stepping on the soil in your garden bed will compact the soil and break down its structure. If you stomp on your garden beds, it compacts the air pockets and natural water filtration.
Following these five guidelines will help you keep the soul of your garden healthy and fertile and ready for next spring.
Q: Do I need to wait until after the first frost to plant garlic? - Kari Anderson, VPR鈥檚 Program Director
In most years, you would be planting garlic now. But we've had such a warm fall that you should wait another week or two.
Ideally, when the overnight temperatures are 40 to 50 degrees consistently for about a week, you can plant garlic.
You can plant garlic right into November, too. Just make sure again, you have a raised bed or garden with fertile soil.
To plant garlic, just place the bulbs into the soil pointy side up and six inches deep, and then cover them over with some hay or straw for the season.
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