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Putting Your Garden to Bed
(and other Fall Gardening techniques)
Author [email protected]
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Maryland Master Gardeners
Vision: a healthier world
through environmental stewardship.
Mission: to educate
Maryland residents about practices
that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and
communities.
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Fall Gardening
• Putting the Garden to Bed and
other Fall chores
• Preparing for Spring NOW
• Extending the season
• Fall vegetables and fruits
• Using and Storing the harvest
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Fall Chores
and
Preparing for
Spring now
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Fall Chores For a Healthy
Garden
• Deal with weeds
– Annual weeds
– Perennial weeds
[GOOGLE: Rutgers weeds]
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/weeds/thumbnail.asp
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Fall Chores For a Healthy
Garden
• CLEAN DEBRIS from garden.
– Leave vegetable roots in place
– Dig in or remove summer mulch
• Add new mulch only after ground
freezes.
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Fall Chores For a Healthy
Garden
• INCREASE ORGANIC MATTER!
–Dig in compost or other organic
matter – leave until spring
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Increasing organic matter
for Long-term soil improvement
• Large amounts of organic matter may be
needed for several years.
• Thereafter, 1 in. of compost will help maintain
high yields.
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(What is organic matter?)
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Leaves, grass
Vegetable scraps- peels, etc. (no butter!!!)
Manure (from vegetarian animals only)
Other plant parts (disease and pest free,
please) including cover crops
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Reminder
• No fats, meats, or dairy in the garden ever!
– (Egg shells are OK without the egg)
• No salt
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Using leaves
• Dig into garden in Fall OR
• Collect and chop leaves
–leave them in plastic bags with some
water until they become leaf mold OR
–Save for making compost
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Using vegetable scraps
• You can bury
nitrogen-rich
materials, like grass
clippings, coffee
grounds, and peels,
in furrows or holes
• OR add to your
compost pile
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Using manure
• Purchase composted manure to stay friends
with the neighbors OR
• Add to compost pile
– Never use FRESH manure in the garden
– Never use cat, dog manure
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Adding manure
Manure
must be
composted
or it will burn
the plants
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A few words about compost
• Compost is plant matter that has
decomposed
• Supplies trace elements
• Makes soil crumbly
• Use to improve soil, continue using
even on excellent soil
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Making compost –5 Ingredients
• Green materials – the source of nitrogen
• Brown materials – the source of carbon
• Air (oxygen)- so the aerobic bacteria work, and
the anaerobic bacteria don’t
• Water (but not too much)- bacteria require
moisture to work
• The bacteria – add a shovel full of compost to
help get it started.
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Everything contains both Carbon and
Nitrogen in different amounts
C:N carbon above 40
Leaves 55:1
Corn cobs 98:1
Wood chips 600:1
Phone book 770:1
C:N carbon below 40
Vegetable waste 13:1
Grass 17:1
Coffee grounds 20:1
Horse manure 30:1
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The Slow, Easy Way: Sheet
composting $
Some people who use the “lasagna”
method do not turn over the soil. They
plant through the layers. (Do early in Fall)
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Adding Organic Materials Using cover
crops
• Cover crops are planted in the fall and then
dug into the garden in late Spring
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Cover crops
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Are living mulch
Improve and protect soils
Increase soil organic matter.
Mine the soil for nutrients.
Protect soil from erosion.
• Add nitrogen to the soil*
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Cover crops
Buckwheat attracts bees.
They then help pollinate the
garden.
Some crops, (clovers and
other legumes like peas),
increase the amount of
nitrogen in the soil.
A one-time purchase of
“nitrogen fixing bacteria”
improves this action.
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More about Cover crops
 A tiller
$ makes turning under
the cover crop easy. Hand
turning is far less expensive.
Rye and Winter wheat are
difficult to hand turn, but their
massive root systems improve
heavy clay soils.
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Extending the
Season
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Extending the season
• Protection
– Tunnels
– Cold Frames
– Cloches
• Mulch
• Using the right plants
• Providing
• Sufficient nutrients
• Sufficient water
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Extending the season – Protection
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“Bell jars” – bottles
Water tubes
Tunnels
Cold Frames
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Extending the season with cold Frames
Plans: GOOGLE: garden gate cold frame
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Extending the season with Cold Frames
• Use to:
– Grow seedlings started under lights in the spring
– Plant cool weather crop or root vegetables in fall.
– Protect tender perennials in winter.
• Insulate with blankets during cold snap nights
• Lift lid to prevent excessive heat on sunny
days
• Keep plants lightly hydrated
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Mulch
Potassium in
soil
Grow coldloving plants
Provide Protection
Spinach
Snow
Peas
Lettuces
Keep
Hydrated !
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Vegetables
and Fruits
in Fall
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Perennial vegetables
• Perennials are plants that return each Spring if
cared for properly
• Examples: Asparagus, rhubarb
• It is important to protect them from damaging
frost – cover with mulch
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Caring for Perennials
• Asparagus -Cut to 2 inch stubs after frost, Add 4 to 6
inches mulch
• Rhubarb - Top dress with composted manure
• Strawberries - Mulch with straw or organic materials
4” deep after soil freezes
• Raspberries/blackberries - In winter, remove
floracanes which have borne fruit
• Blueberries - Protect with pine bark mulch, rotted
sawdust, or compost around the base of the bush
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Planting Fall Crops: Garlic!
• Purchase bulbs to plant in October from a
seed/plant company; not from grocery store!
• Choose full sun location
• Weed area and amend soil with compost
• Separate cloves and plant them pointed end
up, 2 inches deep and 5 inches apart
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Top dress with compost or mulch to deter weeds
In Spring add fresh layer of compost or mulch
Remove any flower stalks to insure large bulbs
Harvest when foliage yellows and falls over. Usually in
July here.
• Store in dry cool location
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Using and
Storing the
Harvest
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How to Store the Harvest
• In-ground growing
• Unheated attic- onions
• Unheated basement – Winter squash and
pumpkin (stems on)
• Root cellar
• Pits with containers
• Specialized treatments (tomatoes)
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How to Store the Harvest
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Drying
Freezing
Canning
Preserving
Pickling
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Reminders for “Putting the Garden to Bed”
• Remove all rotten fruit from the ground
around trees; insect infestations last through
winter.
• Leave vegetable roots in place but remove
diseased tomato, potato, and squash foliage
to prevent disease. Do not toss these plants
in the compost. Bag and discard.
• Remove dead branches from roses and fruit
trees (no pruning yet).
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• Leave dried flowers, ornamental grasses, and
seed heads that look good and provide food for
birds.
• Protect perennials from frost heaving by
mulching after the ground freezes.
• Protect ornamentals such as azaleas and berry
bushes from bud-eating deer with deer netting.
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• Build a simple compost bin or add to your
present one all Winter long.
• Plant spring bulbs. Including garlic
• Plant cover crops after harvest to correct soil
compaction.
• Clean and sharpen tools blades
• Plan next year’s garden!
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Thanks for
cominglet’s talk!
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Composting
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Making compost- Which method?
• Cold composting
– Slow (may not be ready for up to a year)
• Hot composting (The heat is created when certain
bacteria work on the right combination of materials)
– Requires a lot of material at one time• Leaves- collect now
• Grass- Early spring grass is full of nitrogen!!!
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The winning formula:
30 parts Carbon: 1 part Nitrogen
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Making compost - Directions
1. Gather both kinds of materials – in small
pieces
2. Add alternate layers, with a few larger pieces
interspersed to assure better air circulation
3. Allow rain to water the pile (or do it yourself)
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Directions for making compost 2
4. Incorporate air any way you can. A pitchfork
is ideal.
5. Cover if a lot of rain is expected
6. Check on consistency- is it ready? (Wear
gloves).
7. Screen to remove chunks (return them to
the pile)
8. Dry and store, or use immediately
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Tips
• If making cold compost, you can continue to
add coffee grounds, peels, egg shells, etc. and
balance with chopped leaves, shredded paper,
etc.
• GRASS is ideal for heating up the bin!
• Store carbon source in fall and winter to use in
summer when nitrogen source becomes
available
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About landfill compost
• In Harford County, the Scarboro landfill has
compost and mulch available $
• They accept organic materials to put into the
compost pile.
• Concerns answered (Joe Rutherford): herbicide residue,
noxious and invasive weeds, pathogens
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Resources
• Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC)
– 800-342-2507
– http://extension.umd.edu/hgic
• Grow-It-Eat-It website
– http://extension.umd.edu/growit
• Master Gardener state website
– http://extension.umd.edu/mg
This program was brought to you by
Maryland Master Gardener Program
Howard County
University of Maryland Extension