how to prep garden for next year?

[frugal is fun]

so I ripped my garden up and raked it all out...now my usual is to do nothing but if I wanted to do slightly more than nothing to prep for next season what should I do?

[sunshine]

I plant buckwheat - in the spring, it will grow - and then I till it under for a green "compost" type of soil enrichment.

[Russ]

I plant buckwheat - in the spring, it will grow - and then I till it under for a green "compost" type of soil enrichment.

yep, that!

Make sure to till it in before it goes to seed though.

[madhen]

Don't forget to sharpen and clean all your garden tools, so they'll be ready to go next year!

[Durgan]

A red clover cover crop (annual) has some merit. Planted in the Fall if your season is long enough to have good growth before freeze-up. It fixes nitrogen and feeds earthworms. It is usually Winter killed in my area. If not, it is weed-wacked in the Spring and rototilled under. The vegetation does not clog the rototiller due to weak binding of the stalks.

Buckwheat has no merit except fiber, which can be accomplished with wood chips.

If no cover crop, cultivate carefully to remove all weeds and to disturb over-wintering bugs and eggs.

All spent vegetation is removed, again to discourage bugs.

If I have sufficient wood chips, a layer is placed on the bare ground to reduce effect of the elements. This is rototilled into the soil in the Spring. Sometimes a bit of urea (nitrogen) is added to encourage rotting, but this is usually not necessary. Wood chips disappear quickly, and tend to loosen up the soil.

Pruning is left until a warm spell in late Winter or early Spring to account for weather damage of the various fruit producing plants.

Compost which was collected and stored in the Spring is placed around various plants and the garden.

Most plants are heavily mulched with wood chips to retain moisture and to limit root damage, due to the thawing and freezing cycles, often encountered in my area.

All this work is started about the middle of September.

The bed for garlic is prepared for planting about the middle of October. This is usually a small area and is heavily mulched with wood chips.

[frugalwarrior2]

Dad used to manure it and till. Then cover w/ leaves. Then leaves hold heat and the wormies come. If the soil is too alkaline already rake the leaves off in the spring don't till under. More manure in earliest spring. Plant after tilling again in later spring. Worms love all that aerating and will come up again for dinner.

[frugalfranny]

but if I wanted to do slightly more than nothing to prep

Thanks fif.............this cracked me up. Guess cause I can relate!!

That is about how I feel at the end of the season............

My "slightly more than nothing" after ripping and cutting back is to watch for sales or buy the 'busted bags' of things when the big box stores are closing things out----they don't want to store them and you can get some good buys..........if it is manure............it goes on the
garden area..........if mulch, it goes to protect plants.......depending
on the type of mulch it is.........

I also TRY to DILIGENTLY watch for new weeds sprouting......and dig them up.............not pull them.

Yep.......agree with clean the tools.........but that is something I can do in the garage in December or Jan.............while the snow is flying!! DID I JUST SAY THAT NASTY "S" WORD???

[frugal is fun]

it is amazing how quickly the weeds come up, isn't it?

I'll have to get on that this weekend. And as far as the red clover...are these seeds I can find easily or do I need to order them?

[Durgan]

it is amazing how quickly the weeds come up, isn't it?

I'll have to get on that this weekend. And as far as the red clover...are these seeds I can find easily or do I need to order them?

Red clover is usually available at feed and seed places. It is probably too late to plant now certainly in Zone 5.

[Birdie]

For anyone planting a cover crop, make sure to cut it down and turn under the soil roughly 4 to 6 weeks before planting your next garden. That gives it a chance to break down and add to the soil.

I work in an organic demonstration vegetable garden run by the master gardener program in my county. We regularly plant cover crops to add either nitrogen (legume based winter cover crop using an inoculant to help the nitrogen fixing to the roots ) or fiber (summer buckwheat, clover etc based cover crop).

Our farm adviser discourages adding wood chips to a vegetable garden as they pull nitrogen from the soil when we want to add nitrogen to the soil.

Here is where we get our cover crop seeds. We use the soil builder mix for winter cover crop and buckwheat or clover for summer. Cover Crop Seed | Clover Seed | Orchard Grass | Buckwheat Seed | Green Manure | Annual Cover Crops | Erosion Control Crops

We add compost every couple of years and use a composted pelleted chicken manure before planting every garden.

Since I live in California, we can garden year around. I've got beets, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, spinach, chard and lettuce planted for this winter.

It's been really interesting reading about all your gardens this summer. Durgan, your garden is amazing....I'd love to have the space you have for planting.