GARDENING Putting your garden to bed for the winter

from Newburgh Magazine October 2020

by Newburgh Magazine

APPLE PICKING Employ a few strategies designed to make it more safe and fruitful

October 2020

10 GARDENING

Putting your garden to bed for the winter

FALL FACTS

Fall is more than just the season that follows summer

OH GOURD!

The festive hues of gourds, squash and pumpkins make Halloween special

PHOTOS AND FLOWERS

Winka Farms offers visitors a unique sunflower experience

14

20

22 24 APPLE PICKING

Employ a few strategies designed to make it more safe and fruitful

HALLOWEEN FUN

Trunk-or-treating? Or traditional trick-or-treating? Consider each.

COSTUME TRENDS

Look back and ahead for costume inspiration this year!

FOOD

Elevate your Halloween celebrations with these easy treats that will be fun for any age

PUTTING YOUR GARDEN TO BED

NO PILLOWS REQUIRED

SUSAN KING, WARRICK COUNTY SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

There are still several more weeks left in the 2020 growing season, but soon your backyard garden’s fresh bounty will dry up and disappear. You may ask yourself, now what? It’s time to put your garden to bed for the winter.

Your garden plot will have very different needs during the fall/winter months, but it still has priorities that need to be considered. It is a generally accepted fact that once soil temperatures drop below 45°F (7°C), biological activity slows to a crawl, and the soil and all its life forms hibernate through winter. By this logic, soil health cannot be expected to improve during the winter months, and yet it is possible to accomplish this when given a little help.

Did this year’s garden host pests that feasted on your plants? What if these pests laid eggs in, on or around your garden? Or maybe it’s a fungus that you paid close attention to, one that just didn’t seem to clear up on its own, but has affected your productivity?

These culprits may be lingering in the soil you plan to plant in next season. Eliminate that potential problem by clearing all dead/dried materials and spent foliage and disposing of it in the trash or by burning it (if permissible). This dried plant material can be a great way to kill two birds with one stone...start a bonfire and reduce landfill waste.

Now you’re staring at bare soil where your garden used to be — what’s next? This completely fallow “brown-gap” period is prone to drying out, eroding and accumulating weed seeds. Mulching with organic material like straw or woodchips can help but another viable option is the use of cover crops. Cover crops are plants used as living ground cover and sometimes called “green manures.” This diverse group of plants (examples are grasses, small grains, legumes, broadleaves) provide a multitude of benefits and have application in farms as well as gardens.

Cover crops can radically improve your soil’s health by providing soil structure and fertility. While planted, cover crops prevent erosion by holding the topsoil in place. They also help reduce soil compaction and help the beneficial organisms in the soil, like worms and bacteria, to flourish.

Cutting before flowering not only prevents the cover crop from going to seed, but also stops the plant from taking up nutrients from the soil to store in its seed. When the cover crops are worked back into the soil, the organic material they provide increases how well the soil can hold onto water and nutrients. Allow approximately two to three weeks for the cover crop to decompose before planting into the soil, and don’t forget to have your soil tested in the spring to determine if amendments are needed. These small steps can create a WIN/ WIN for next year’s garden.

At the end of the day (or growing season), does planting cover crops in your backyard garden sound like a soil conservation practice you would like to pursue? The Warrick County SWCD, in partnership with PUSH-IT (Promoting Urban Soil Health in Towns) has free (for a limited time) cover crop seed packets to help you get started. Please contact our office at (812)897-2840, option#3 for details and additional information.