Welcome back. The growing season has come to an end; on October 4th we had the first killing frost with a temperature of 27 degrees.
It's hard to believe it's heading towards the end of October already. Although the season is over for most vegetables, I have a few remaining that are cold tolerant. More on that later.
It is just as important to take care of the garden in the Fall as it is to prepare it in the Spring. Properly "putting it to bed"it in the Fall will make it easier next year to have a successful garden.
Recently, I started with the lower garden first. This garden was already cleared of plants since I dug the potatoes in September.
As you can see, the garden will start to fill in with weeds and grass and will continue to do so even in cooler temperatures. Therefore, I like to till the soil to stop this process and to leave the soil in good condition for the Spring. In addition to working the soil, it is also important to amend the soil with organic matter to help with nutrients and help improve the soil's ability to retain moisture. During the season, I use grass clippings to prevent weeds, and they gradually break down over the course of the summer to help the soil.
The other major soil improvement technique I use is chopped/mulched leaves. Later this Fall, I will collect leaves and place them on the gardens so they can decompose over the winter. Leaves are an excellent source of organic matter for your garden.
As you can see, after tilling, the garden looks 100% better. If you're wondering what the small patch of plants are on the left in front of the rototiller, they are leeks. They were planted late (I started from seed) and stuck in the potato patch where a few hills didn't come up. There is another small batch in the upper garden. Leeks are cold tolerant and the flavor can even be enhanced by frost. I will let them grow and they can be used right up until the ground freezes.
In addition to leeks, I still have some kale, Swiss chard, and Brussels sprouts left in the "greens box" shown in the 2 photos below. These are also cold tolerant and can be enjoyed for a while still.
I also have started to clear the upper garden, which is full of left over plants including the tomatoes as you can see in the 2 photos that follow..
So far I have cleaned up about a third of this garden. The last few weeks we have gotten a lot of rain, with the total for October now at almost 6 inches. So it will be hard to till the remainder but i can get all of the debris pulled.
Finally, I couple of fall photos taken in my yard. Enjoy and thanks for visiting.
