If you've already put your garden to bed for the year, you're not alone. But before you lock up those garden tools for the winter, here's a great idea for getting a jumpstart on your spring garden: Spend a bit of time improving the soil in your beds. Not only will it put you on the path to a healthy, productive garden, but it's also one fewer thing you'll need to tackle in the spring. Here are seven simple things you can do now to prep soil now for next season:
Take a Test
Consider doing a soil test to determine if you need to add pH-raising materials like lime, or acidifying items like elemental sulfur. For the most accurate results, use a soil test kit from your county Extension office.
Still have some plants left to remove? Instead of digging to get every last root, just give the plants a quick tug and take what comes up easily. The part of the root system that's left behind will feed beneficial microbes, whose digestive efforts produce humus. Humus not only helps keep soil moist and aerated, but also assists plants in getting the nutrients they need to flourish. (An important note: If plants are diseased, you need to remove all of the roots to avoid allowing the disease to overwinter in the soil.)
Add Compost
Place a 3- to 4-inch layer of compost on your garden, then use a digging fork or broadfork to gently work it into the soil. If you get your compost in place while soil is still warm, the microbes and beneficial soil-dwelling critters will start working right away to break it down and get it ready for spring.
Manure applied during the spring needs to be composted first. But when you apply it in fall to a garden that won't be planted until spring, you can go ahead and use the fresh stuff (assuming you can handle the odor!). The ammonia that's present will disappear over winter, leaving you with rich organic matter come spring. Best manure bets for your garden are cow and horse (in that order), followed by sheep, and you'll want to apply a 1-inch-thick layer. If desired, sprinkle the manure with blood meal, water it in, then cover the whole thing with a tarp or layer of leaves and straw to really get it cooking. Organic farmers call this a "six-month winter compost."
Sprinkle with Fertilizer
If you don't want to go the manure route, try lightly applying an organic fertilizer like greensand, rock phosphate, kelp meal, bonemeal, or bloodmeal. When they aren't overapplied, organic fertilizers like these release nutrients slowly over a period of several months. Adding them to the garden in fall gives them ample time to be transformed into materials that will be readily absorbed by eager spring roots.
Pile on the Leaves
No matter what form of compost or fertilizer you've put on the garden, cover it with a layer of fall leaves that you've chopped up with the mower. This is a great way to insulate the soil and encourage worms to stay active longer into the season.
Plant Cover Crops
Another option for prepping your soil is to plant a cover crop such as clover, red wheat, cereal or annual rye, agricultural mustard, fava beans, alfalfa, sorghum, or wooly pod vetch. Any of these crops will pull nutrients up from the subsoil, remove excess water, and (when you turn them under in the spring), return nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. The one drawback to this method is that you need to sow seeds while the soil is still warm enough to allow for germination, which usually means late summer in colder regions and early fall in warmer areas. If you're too late to plant this time around, just add it to the calendar for next year.
Invest a little time in your soil this fall and you'll reap the rewards next spring and summer.
Layer fallen, shredded tree leaves, compost and fertilizer in the garden bed and turn under the soil. You could also dig trenches in the garden, pile in the leaves and compost and cover with soil. These organic soil amendments will decompose over winter and leave the soil more fertile when spring rolls around.
Tilth is a word that describes the prepared soil surface. A rough tilth is created by digging and a fine tilth is created by raking and levelling the soil ready to sow seeds. Mulch is a layer of material that is spread over the surface of the soil to suppress weeds, conserve moisture and warm the soil.
Adding large amounts of organic matter such as organic compost and manures will greatly improve the nutrient and water holding ability of these soils. Vegetables may be grown on heavier soils if they are well-drained.
This can include compost, or woody material such as logs, dry wood, branches, and leaves. Organic material is the best option, as it improves drainage as well as enriches the soil as it breaks down, and does not need to be removed from your raised beds later on.
You can broadcast dry fertilizer (1 pound for each 100 square feet of garden or 100 feet of row) over the entire garden plot before planting. Then after planting, side-dress along the plant rows. The fertilizer should be applied 2–3 inches to the side of, and 1–2 inches below, the seed level or plant row.
Remove all debris and any wood, stones or large roots. Use a spade and garden rake to scratch the soil 1 to 2 inches at the surface, then dig about 6 inches deep to remove roots and rocks. Add seeding soil to the top of your existing soil and smooth with the rake.
To prepare the soil in our hearts and plant seeds of righteousness so that we can produce a vast harvest of fruit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
The purpose of tilling is to mix organic matter into your soil, help control weeds, break up crusted soil, or loosen up a small area for planting. You do not need to till or break up the soil very deep; less than 12 inches is better. Tilling too often or deep can do more damage than good to your soil.
The single best thing you can do for your soil is to add organic matter. and the best organic matter is compost. Compost is simply once-living matter (leaves, kitchen vegetable scraps, garden trimmings) that has decomposed into a dark, crumbly substance.
After weeks of giving each plant different liquids(water, carbonated water, mango juice and pineapple soda), the conclusion is carbonated water grows plants the fastest and the healthiest.
Add a handful of a slow release fertilizer like manure. Mix in one part compost for every three or four parts of the old potting mix. Apply a liquid fertilizer like compost tea every two weeks. Mix an organic fertilizer like worm castings or coffee grounds to the top few inches of garden soil.
Good quality Epsom salt fertilizers can be a great choice to make them grow faster, bushier and bigger. These can improve their overall health and enhance the output and flavor of fruits and veggies. Onion peel, banana peel, or seaweed-based fertilizers can also help significantly increase the pace of growth.
Turn compost or fertilizer into the existing soil to add back in some much-needed nutrients. Be sure that fertilizer, which can burn roots, is turned in deeply enough so that growing roots won't come into contact with it right away.
Make sure the potting soil is completely dry, as any lingering moisture can cause a variety of mold or mildew problems over the winter. 2.) Find or buy a large plastic storage tub. I get mine from my local home improvement store — 20- or 30-gallon sizes with lids work well, and they range from $7.00 – $12.00 each.
In addition to the use of animal manure to add organic matter, any composted plant material such as leaves, cotton burrs, hay, or straw will do. Composted materials can either be spread on, mixed with the soil, or used as a mulch around growing crops.
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