By Jennifer Poindexter
When your garden is done , do you take the time to shut it down ? I used to be someone who looked at a drained garden and walk away for the time of year .
I get the enticement after working heavily all summertime to lift crops and salt away the harvest home that when you ignite - up , the fall morning when the hoarfrost finally kills it all , to take a deep breath and model down .
Though it ’s tempting to take a behind immediately after frost stop your horticulture season , my quick steer may make you reconsider .
Here ’s why you might require to close your garden when not in use :
Quick Tip: Close Your Garden When Not in Use
If you walk away from your garden when the time of year ends , you leave drained works , bug , and weed flop where they sit .
This is a problem . By leave all in grass and plants in your garden , you ’re potentially forget disease and plague infestation along with them .
The debris of the idle plants and weeds , furnish more spaces for disease and bug to hibernate . Also , by not tilling the land , you ’re leave everything in the soil on the button where it sit .
All of this could make more trouble for you the next gardening season .
Closing a Traditional Style Garden Plot
Afterfrost affect my garden , we deplume any post out of the area . Then we go over the entire thing with a bush pig .
If you do n’t have a George W. Bush hog , perpetrate up declamatory plant and then mow the rest of it down to ground level . This removes a lot of places for pestis and disease to conceal .
The next footfall may vary depend upon which planting zone you live in . Where I live , the temperatures remain warm enough that the ground is n’t frozen solid throughout the winter .
In our case , we let the garden sit until after Christmas . Then we ’ll till it up once in January to expose anything in the stain .
However , this leave enough clock time for more frosts to occur which should freeze anything we brought to the airfoil .
We ’ll till the garden again a second sentence in February to assure everything is exhaustively worked and divulge to the cold temperatures to kill off any hang around blighter or diseases .
Then we ’ll till the ground again another time before found .
If you populate in a cold climate , you may have to till the soil right after frost affect your garden while it ’s still workable . Then till it again after it starts to warming a small in the spring but before the final frost engagement .
Closing Down Raised Bed Gardens and Containers
If you garden inraised bedsorcontainers , closing these areas down for wintertime is even well-heeled . For levy beds , draw up any deadened flora .
From there , work the soil with a weed-whacker or hoe to polish off any remaining rubble . Once this is pure , add a light layer of mulch to the expanse to protect the land over winter .
The next year , till the beds during the time you ’d amend the soil before adding plant back to the area .
If you ’re gardening in container , be sure to get rid of any idle industrial plant and discard them . If your containers are well-fixed enough to move to a covered area , then do so .
If not , then add a light level of mulch to the container for added protection to the soil . For the containers which can be moved and stored , you have two choice .
The first is to ditch the soil into a larger container , make clean the plantation owner , and stash away it until the next time of year .
Your second option is to leave alone the soil inside the container and put it in a space out of the elements . Then you ’ll remediate the grime prior to planting next year .
This may sound like more work , but in the long run , these tips could facilitate keep your garden healthier throughout the growing season .
Take these tips into consideration when it ’s sentence to close your garden down . Not only does it spruce up your horticulture space over wintertime , but it also helps debunk pests and disease to freeze temperatures which might facilitate with next year ’s garden .
More on Closing Your Garden for the Season
https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/yardandgarden/preparing-the-garden-for-winter/
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=28295
https://currituck.ces.ncsu.edu/2021/10/winterizing-your-garden/
