- Fall Lawn and Garden Preparation
By: Jim Kennard
Let's talk about preparing your
lawn, trees, shrubs, and garden for winter, and how best to improve
your soil during this time of year.
Much of this Country seems to
be clay soil, so first lets find out how to improve problem clay
soils. These procedures also apply to other types of soil, but
may not be so important if you have loamy or sandy soil.
I don't often dwell on amending
your soil, because it is not essential for growing a good garden
if you feed and water properly. However, it can be a good idea,
so long as you use clean, weed, seed, bug, and disease-free materials.
Weed-free grass clippings are
good soil amendments when they're available, as are pine needles.
And this time of the year you can also use your leaves. Mulch
pine needles and leaves as fine as possible with a chipper/shredder
or mulching mower, and then turn 3 or 4 inches of them into your
soil-beds. Just don't use walnut leaves, as the sap is very hard
on some of your vegetables, especially tomatoes. This procedure
will improve your soil tilth, and doing it in the fall gives
the organic material plenty of time to de-compose before spring
planting.
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What else should you be doing now
to get your yard ready for winter and give growing things a head
start for spring? The Mittleider Method as taught in his gardening
books available at www.foodforeveryone.org teaches the importance
of and best methods of weeding and feeding your garden. A final
weeding is a very good idea for starters. Left alone, some weeds
will over-winter and come back strong as soon as the snow leaves
your ground and before you can get into the yard. That’s
why farmers plant winter wheat, and gardeners plant things like
garlic so they have a head start in the spring. Don't give your
weeds that advantage! |
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The next thing to do is to clean
up and remove all organic materials from the garden area! Clean,
disease-free plant residue should be turned into the soil along
with your leaves, and you should remove everything else, so as
not to provide a place for bugs to winter-over.
A slow-release fertilizer is
also a good thing to put down in the fall. This way, it is available
to lawn, plants, and trees as they first stir in late winter
and early spring. This is also an excellent time to apply calcium,
which is the foundation of a good feeding program, and an essential
nutrient almost as important as nitrogen. How is this best done?
Calcium does not move very far in the soil, so its best to work
it into the plants root zone in the soil. However, what about
the majority of your yard, that doesn't get turned over every
fall?
With lawn, trees, shrubs, vines,
and perennials such as raspberries and asparagus, it is usually
impractical to dig things up every year like a vegetable garden.
Therefore, sometimes the question is asked Would it be advantageous
to aerate first, or use a root feeder or something similar to
get Pre-Plant minerals more into the root zone?
Many people feel this is important,
and there may be some advantage to aerating your lawn or around
your shrubs and trees before applying your fall slow-release
fertilizer and calcium. However Dr. Mittleider says it is not
necessary and doesn't do it, and we have never aerated our yard
and get along just fine. Therefore, I recommend you spread the
materials evenly on the soil surface, scratch them in with a
rake or hoe, and either water them in thoroughly or, if you have
already turned off your outside water for the winter, let the
melting snow take them down into the root zone of your plants.
Do these things now and your
garden can be a thing of beauty even in the winter!
© James B. Kennard, 2006 |
